LUNGANI ZUNGU
Durban — The ANC ended its week-long high-powered campaigns in KwaZulu-Natal on a high note with former president Thabo Mbeki vowing that the ruling party was cleansing itself of rogue elements.
“We are renewing the ANC. We want to return the ANC to its rightful position as the leader of society,” said Mbeki, adding that “we’re going to do the things which will never disappoint your expectations”.
He added: “I have been insisting that the question of the renewal of the ANC is critical to make sure that the ANC becomes of the kind that I am talking about. And the leadership of the ANC has not told me to shut up. They said we have to do this thing and they said ‘Please, go and campaign’.”
Mbeki was among the senior leaders the ANC had deployed to KZN as part of its efforts to cling to the province, which is a highly contested terrain.
While pleading with people to vote for the ANC, Mbeki bluntly conceded that the party had a lot of introspection to do post-election.
“The reality is that we need to do a lot of soul-searching after the elections because a lot of things have gone wrong in the movement. But we say to the people, vote for us and we will fix things in our movement after the elections.”
In a desperate bid to defend the province, Mbeki went to Pietermaritzburg where he visited the graves of Struggle veterans Johnny Makhathini and former SACP strongman Moses Mabhida.
He also went on a walkabout at the Edendale Mall, where throngs of people gathered around him.
He urged people to vote for the ANC on May 29, promising them that the ruling party had learned from its past mistakes.
"We are not going to try and deceive the people. The fact is that we have done many wrongs. All we are asking for is for people to vote for us so that we will be able to fix our mistakes," he said.
Mbeki was president of the ANC from 1997 until his bruising defeat at the 2007 ANC conference in Polokwane by former president Jacob Zuma.
Following his defeat, the ANC national executive committee (NEC), the party’s highest decision-making authority, instructed him to resign as state president in September 2008, a position he had held from 1999 after succeeding Nelson Mandela.
On Sunday, Mbeki, along with provincial ANC heavyweights, visited the graves of former ANC presidents Chief Albert Luthuli, in Groutville, and John Langalibalele Dube, in Inanda, north of Durban.
He later went to a dialogue at the Umlazi Comtech Hall.
The ANC has roped in party bigwigs in its campaign in a bid to fob off the opposition parties that threaten to pull the ruling party below the 50% mark both nationally and in the fiercely contested KZN province. The ANC bagged 54% of the votes in KZN during the 2019 national elections.
The emergence of the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP), backed by Zuma, and the IFP reclaiming lost ground is causing the ANC a big headache ahead of the elections.
All indications at this stage are that the province could be governed through a coalition as many analysts agree that there will be no outright winner in KZN.
As Mbeki went on a charm offensive, MKP leader Zuma was expected to address his supporters at Freedom Park in KwaMashu, north of Durban, later on Sunday.
While the MKP has been dogged by internal factional quarrels, its entrance is poised to cause a major dent in the ANC’s performance at the polls, especially in KZN.
Zuma has a pending disciplinary hearing with the ANC, which was put on ice until after the elections, for joining another party (MKP) and campaigning against the ANC.
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