‘Bar faction from capturing ANC’

FORMER president Thabo Mbeki yesterday said the ANC needed to be rescued from being captured by a dominant faction. “The ANC has been captured by a dominant faction which is clearly not ANC,” he said.

Mbeki said rot had infected the ANC as a whole.

He warned the ruling party not to distance itself from the leadership of the Struggle veterans and stalwarts who gathered at the national consultative conference at the weekend in Johannesburg.

“What do we do to liberate the ANC from a dominant group that is in fact not ANC?” Mbeki said the conference declaration should be distributed to all ANC members. “What do we need to do to pursue the decisions of the national consultative conference?”

He declared the “age of hopelessness” over.

The conference, shunned by the ANC, was also attended by former deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe, former finance minister Trevor Manuel, ANC NEC member Derek Hanekom and presidential candidate Lindiwe Sisulu, among others.

Mbeki criticised the NEC for not recognising the consultative conference.

“The national executive committee has done itself and the rest of the ANC a great disservice by disassociating itself from this leadership gathered here. It was a wrong decision, and I trust there are people within the national executive committee of the ANC who can think,” he said.

The stalwarts and veterans also reiterated their call for President Jacob Zuma to step down.

In their strongly-worded declaration, the veterans said they “will not allow the ANC to die under our watch”, adding they were deeply hurt by what they regarded as “a betrayal of people’s long standing support and trust of the ANC”.

“We are deeply troubled by the abandonment of the ANC’s historic values and principles, which has undermined popular confidence in the government, Parliament, state-owned enterprises and other public institutions,” the declaration reads.

“We are witness to the moral degeneration in society that is overseen by a self-centred, uncaring leadership that lacks honesty, integrity and a vision for the future.”

They said the current leadership of the ANC was paralysed and unable to deal with corruption, incompetence and ill-discipline in the ranks of the party.

The mismanagement of the economy had led to “unprecedented” unemployment rates and that the “appalling” state of education at all levels continued the marginalisation of significant sections of society, the statement continued.

The leadership crisis in the ANC had led to systematic looting of public resources, unparalleled capture of state institutions for corrupt purposes and deplorable instances of assassinations due to political infighting, the stalwarts declared.

Corruption had to be rooted out at all levels of government, the declaration says, adding that ill-gotten money must be recovered to cover development projects.

ANC branches had fallen prey to gatekeeping by factions seeking political office to plunder state resources, the stalwarts said.

“In short, the ANC has relinquished its leadership of society and plunged itself into an untenable political crisis of serious proportions... This development represents a danger to all South Africans who love justice and who desire rapid progress towards a better life for all,” the declaration notes.

Former communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda also fired a broadside at the ANC leadership, questioning how they ignored their veterans.

The uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) veteran said many in the leadership of the ANC were irredeemable.