Without renewal ANC will die, warns Mbeki
Former president Thabo Mbeki has warned the ANC needs to rid itself of corrupt members if it wants to continue as a viable political party.
Mbeki delivered the keynote address at the memorial service of anti-apartheid activist and stalwart Rita Ndzanga, on Thursday in Soweto.
Mbeki raised concern over the lack of dedicated members such as Ndzanga.
The stalwart died last Wednesday at the age of 88.
Mbeki said the recent ANC provincial conferences proved that the party is attracting people who want to use it as a step ladder to fill their pockets.
Mbeki says the party's renewal process is going to be difficult and challenging.
"The process of renewal is going to be very painful. If we are loyal to the ANC and its history and values and Comrade Rita Ndzanga, that renewal process is going to be very painful. How do we renew the ANC, when this person who joined the ANC for the wrong reasons remains a member? What then has been renewed? Nothing. That means comrades this is going to be a very difficult process.
“So I am saying comrades, the process of renewal, very very urgent, very important, must happen. It is going to be very difficult and challenging. But I think we owe it to Comrade Rita Ndzanga and others like her, to do something about the ANC. We can't have a situation where we have people popping up who are corrupt and each one of them is an ANC member, in the end, people say the ANC is corrupt, ANC is not corrupt, but it carries within itself people who are corrupt and to renew itself it must get rid of those kinds of people," added Mbeki.
Mbeki warned the party needs to urgently undergo a renewal process, or it will die.
"We are very very fortunate that our movement has taken an important decision that the ANC needs renewal. It is a movement decision, a conference decision, we need to renew the ANC, if we don't renew the ANC, it will die. We have been very fortunate with people who have stayed away from voting, numbers of them increasing. I am saying fortunately in this sense, they have not deserted to other parties, they are saying to us become the ANC we know, undertake renewal which has been decided by conference."
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