I couldn't campaign for the ANC under Zuma - Mbeki
Former president Thabo Mbeki admitted on Tuesday that he could not campaign for the African National Congress (ANC) under the leadership of Jacob Zuma.
Mbeki was speaking at the ANC showroom at the Rand Easter Show, south of Johannesburg, on Monday afternoon.
Mbeki was conspicuous in his absence during both the 2014 general elections and 2016 local government elections when his successor Jacob Zuma was at the helm of the party.
He says it would have been dishonest of him to campaign during that period.
ALSO READ:SANDF deployed in flood-ravaged Port St Johns
"So you say why now? Why do I do this? It's because there was period when I could personally, in all honesty, come and say to a person 'David please vote for the ANC' knowing very well the wrong that were happening. That it would not be honest of me to go and talk people like that."
Mbeki says the new ANC manifesto is full of introspection and admits the party has done wrong.
"I'm saying that the current election manifesto of the ANC has those observations about the ANC. What that does, it poses a challenge to the ANC. The fact that we admit that we veered off course resulting in corruption, this and that and the other, it means we are making a commitment to the public that we're going to have to deal with those matters."
He added that the testimonies being heard at the commission of inquiry into state capture is proof of an ANC determined to chart a new course.
Mbeki also lauded the ANC veterans for speaking up on the ANC elections lists, and raising concerns over the likes of Bathabile Dlamini, Malusi Gigaba and Nomvula Mokonyane being deployed to Parliament.
"The issue of the list obviously comes up. I think the veterans of the ANC were very correct to raise the matter, to say: ‘Look 'from what we can see in terms of what’s happening that’s in the public domain we think the following people should not be on the ANC list’."
Mbeki added his signature to a board pledging to vote for the ANC on May 8.