ANC collapse would leave SA 'ungovernable' - Mbeki
Former president Thabo Mbeki says South Africa is in deep trouble.
Mbeki was speaking after a three-day trip to the Free State, aimed at fostering unity, renewal and rebuilding the party.
He was invited by the interim provincial committee.
"We have got a country in crisis, it's in crisis in many respects," he told delegates on Saturday.
"The economy is in deep trouble and has been in deep trouble for many years. That is why you see the continouosly increasing numbers of the unemployed."
But at the same time the former president warned that the country's ills cannot be solved without the ANC.
Mbeki told delegates the ANC is simply too big to fail.
"If the ANC collapsed today, ceased to exist, the country would become ungovernable, simply because of the influence of the ANC. Three provincial governments are ANC, national government is ANC. Even if you forget about the municipalities. If the ANC collapses and ceases to exist tomorrow, the country would become ungovernable."
The former president also warned the party to focus on service delivery and not the leadership race.
The ANC will elect new leadership at its national conference at the end of the year, but Mbeki believes the identity of the ANC leader is not something that preoccupies the minds of ordinary South Africans.
"The ordinary masses of the people are not interested in who's the president of the ANC. They are interested in an ANC which takes care of the matter of service delivery."
