ANC urged to ‘sort out its dirty laundry’
The African National Congress (ANC) has been urged to unite in the spirit of the late freedom fighter Solomon Mahlangu.
The party's deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte said on Tuesday that the party’s members should use Mahlangu's commemoration as an opportunity to strengthen the movement.
Tuesday marked 42 years since Mahlangu was executed by the apartheid government.
"So that we remember what we are and who we are, and who we represent, the poor of the poorest, people who really suffer and the people who need transformation.”
Duarte said this outside the Kgoši Mampuru Correctional Centre in Tshwane.
Minister of Arts and Culture, Nathi Mthethwa, dismissed claims that the current infighting within the ANC is spitting in the face of the late Mahlangu.
But he believes there is a need for the party to introspect and question what Mahlangu would do in such circumstances.
"As a party or as a movement, it has always had its own issues. Challenges of factionalism date back to the '20s.
"What is important, is for the ANC as the governing party should always be conscious of its weakness and be able to correct them," said Mthethwa.
The South African Communist Party's (SACP) national spokesperson Alex Mashilo called on the party to cease the infighting before the upcoming local government election.
"If you are divided, you will not lead this society to the freedom that comrade Solomon stood for, we are really asking you the ANC; please be united.
"We are talking about an internal unity. We know that without the ANC this alliance will be strong as it should be.
"We need that unity of the ANC to prevail in the coming elections, we need that unity of the ANC to prevail in 2024.
"We do not want that unity to be of just words, it should be a unity based on a revolutionary program."
