Cape Town – The ANC is seeking the support of former president Thabo Mbeki in its campaign for the upcoming elections.
The party, facing challenges with the emergence of a new party led by another former president, Jacob Zuma, has sent a representative to engage with Mbeki, Sunday Times reported on.
Despite Mbeki’s past criticism of the ANC’s failures, party leaders express confidence that he will eventually agree to campaign.
Last year, Mbeki raised concerns about the party’s lack of renewal and called for addressing pressing issues like load shedding, unemployment, and crime before focusing on elections.
According to EWN, Mbeki discussed his concerns about the state of governance in the country.
He said at the time that he was unable to say for sure if he will campaign for the ANC in next polls.
“It’s a legitimate question. But I’m unable to answer it today; I’m not sure,” says Mbeki when asked if he will take the ANC’s manifesto to South Africans to help the political party.
“Indeed, there are many things that are going wrong, which are not being attended to. I can’t go to ordinary people in our country and say vote for these people who are doing wrong things,” the report quoted Mbeki as saying.
The ANC, however, hopes to have Mbeki participate in the post-manifesto launch and campaign with the manifesto in hand.
“He hasn’t agreed yet … but we’re confident that he will agree to come on board,” a senior ANC NEC member said, according to Sunday Times.
“The idea is for us to have a plan for a post-manifesto launch because we want him to go out there campaigning with the manifesto in his hands. What we are getting from the likes of comrade Mdumiseni [Ntuli] is that he is agreeing to attend the manifesto launch, but as I said there is nothing formal as yet.”
Mbeki’s loyalty to the party is expected, according to the ANC spokesperson.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
