Mbeki urges ANC to prioritise renewal, self-cleaning

Former president stresses the need for honest leadership in the party

- THAMI MAGUBANE

FORMER president Thabo Mbeki says the ANC must be cleansed of those members who joined it for self-enrichment.

(Independent Newspapers Archives)

THE project of renewal within the ANC is moving slowly, although non-genuine members are already weaning themselves off the party.

That is the view shared by some ANC members in the Midlands, who have observed business people, who previously secured tenders through party connections, abandoning the ANC, along with former leaders joining opposition parties.

They spoke after former President Thabo Mbeki made a call for the party to take the renewal programme seriously and remove those who seek to use the party for self-enrichment. Mbeki made these remarks while attending a political education school in Durban at the weekend.

“Be honest about the state of the organisation. As a movement and an organisation, we recognise there is a crisis. You can't drop from where we were to this 17% and think there is no crisis,” he said. He noted that the situation was so dire that even in localities, it was difficult to identify which areas were ANC strongholds.

“We want to honestly address the nature of our problems. What actions do we take regarding the renewal of the ANC? The sense I get is that we are all acknowledging it is a critical matter that must be attended to”