Mbeki encourages Soweto residents to vote for ANC

Former president Thabo Mbeki has urged the residents of Soweto to come out in numbers to vote for the ANC in the national and provincial elections on May 29.

He told residents gathered at the Jabulani Mall that they should vote for the ANC even though it was still infiltrated by criminals. He said the ANC was in the process of removing such crooks from the party.

“People of Soweto, I come here to ask that on May 29 we know what we have to do. There’s only one political party I know. I don’t know these other ones,” said Mbeki to loud cheers.

“When I say let’s vote for the people’s organisation, I say that because I know this organisation. I know you have many issues with this organisation — that there are people who are not good, the criminals are also wearing this ANC T-shirt. We have to remove them so that this organisation goes back to being the one you all know,” he said.

This was the first time that Mbeki had joined the ANC campaign trail since he was removed from office in 2008.

Though he had several engagements with intellectuals ahead of the 2019 elections, the last time he campaigned on the streets was in 2008.

Mbeki’s decision to join the campaign has been seen as an endorsement of the party, given that it is a big shift from his previous comments about the ANC.

Mbeki has been critical of the ANC, often calling the party out for implementing its renewal programme at a snail’s pace.

The renewal programme is meant to rid the ANC of the rot that Mbeki has said had taken over the party.

Mbeki last year said since the adoption of the renewal resolution in 2017 and 2022, nothing tangible had been done to show the party was serious about its renewal.

“We did not do that, we did not renew the ANC after that conference resolution of 2017. That resolution has been repeated by the conference of 2022, to renew the ANC,” said Mbeki at the University of Johannesburg during the memorial service of former foreign affairs minister Aziz Pahad last year.

Mbeki also lambasted the ANC leadership for shielding its president Cyril Ramaphosa from a parliamentary inquiry that was meant to probe the Phala Phala scandal.

However, speaking in isiXhosa, Mbeki said he was happy with the reception he received at Jabulani Mall.

“I was very happy to see people, the faces of the people [were] very happy because they are confident that the problems we’ve been facing are going to be solved. They have to be solved,” he said.

“So I promise that when I say vote for the ANC, I promise that we will fix that ANC.”

Last August, Mbeki told a gathering at Unisa that it would be difficult to campaign for the ANC as he would find it hard to convince people to vote for a political party led by criminals.

He said at the time that young people in SA should ask the ANC why it deserved their vote.

“Ask the ANC: given what has happened over all these years, what justifies that I vote for you,” Mbeki said.

At the time, this was widely seen as a sign that Mbeki would not campaign for the ANC ahead of the May 29 polls.

But his tone shifted in February after attending a breakaway elections commission during a national executive committee meeting.

It was at this NEC meeting that Mbeki is said to have been critical of Zuma, saying the years when Zuma led the ANC and the country were counterrevolutionary as there was a deliberate move to weaken the state.

“He was saying that there was counterrevolution that produced failure and disaster in the ANC and that Zuma was directly involved in capturing and taking over Sars and Eskom.

“He said that Zuma and Tom Moyane aggressively did so and that this had contributed immensely to the bad narrative the ANC and its government suffer today,” an NEC member said at the time.

Mbeki is said to have attributed the decline of the ANC’s electoral fortunes to Zuma as polls and reports showed that the party lost support during his tenure, sources said.

Mbeki later released a statement confirming that he would be campaigning for the ANC.

On Thursday, Mbeki walked around Jabulani Mall with a broad smile, waving at cheering shoppers.

Flanked by heavily armed police and bodyguards, Mbeki interacted with residents.

He distributed flyers bearing the face of Ramaphosa. 

Mbeki supported the ANC for not expelling Zuma outright, saying the party was taking the correct approach by taking him through a disciplinary process.

His comments come after calls from within the ANC for the immediate expulsion of Zuma — particularly now that the Independent Electoral Commission had confirmed he would be on the ballot representing the MK Party.