'Slate politics will destroy the ANC'
African National Congress (ANC) presidential hopeful Zweli Mkhize has warned the party to rid itself of slate politics in the run-up to its national conference in December.
Mhkize is the party's current treasurer general.
His campaign to succeed President Jacob Zuma is focusing on the restoration of unity within the ANC. He is seen as "a third way", an alternative presidential option to Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and former African Union Commission chair Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
He says the entrenchment of a culture of slate politics in the ANC has been a fundamental error.
"We need to allow the ANC to mix all the leaders in the way they wish to mix them, as the delegates and the conference will ultimately pronounce.
"And being amongst those who have over the past 10 years led on this issues around slate politics, I must also be upfront to say I think it's time we corrected it.
"If we don't correct it the ANC is going to be destroyed unnecessarily, when it's got ample talents of leaders who can lead it into greater heights."
While Mkhize says his campaign to succeed President Zuma as ANC leader is gaining momentum, he is also prepared to serve under Ramaphosa or Dlamini-Zuma.
"I am prepared to lead if elected to such a position. I am also prepared to lead with others that will be elected together with myself. I am also prepared to serve under other leaders if that is how the conference structures it."
Mkhize says the ANC leadership is working to calm tensions in the party, amid legal action by disgruntled members in several provinces.
"What I think is important know is to ensure there are enough engagements between now and the conference to just calm down the tensions and the hostility so that the competition remains a more comradely competition. And a sense of me being available for the delegates to choose, not for us to insist on something."