Zweli Mkhize.
Darren Stewart/Gallo Images
- ANC presidential candidate Zweli Mkhize says the current ANC leadership has weakened the organization.
- Mkhize has tried to woo the party’s young supporters in a bid to secure a victory.
- It comes as President Cyril Ramaphosa faces mounting pressure to resign after the independent Section 89 panel made damning findings about millions of dollars that were stolen from his Phala Phala farm in Limpopo.
As President Cyril Ramaphosa faces mounting pressure to step down, ANC candidate Zweli Mkhize has tried to court the party’s young supporters in a bid to secure a victory.
Mkhize addressed youth members from the ANC’s Dullah Omar region in Langa, Cape Town.
He arrived to an enthusiastic welcome from the party’s young supporters, whom he urged to hold party delegates to account as they head to their 55th elective conference in Nasrec, Johannesburg.
“We need unity, a divided ANC leadership cannot support the party and make sure its members are united,” he said.
Mkhize has embarked on a whirlwind tour of Cape Town: he is expected to give a speech in Citrusdal on the west coast.
The former health minister, who resigned amid a tender corruption scandal, has spoken about the current leadership of the ANC.
He said:
This ANC is being weakened by its own members and leaders. The ANC does not belong to these leaders, it belongs to you.
Mkhize’s speech comes as the ANC’s National Labor Committee and National Executive Committee are expected to discuss the findings of the independent panel from Parliament’s Section 89 that reached damning conclusions about millions of dollars being stolen from the Phala farm. Phala of Ramaphosa in Limpopo.
Mkhize took the opportunity to send a strong message that the ANC was “not for sale”.
“This ANC must work for our people, it must unite itself and all the people of this country. This ANC must make sure that it deals with the problems that our people face and with poverty and inequality. We must make a difference in the leadership of the ANC,” he said.
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Mkhize made cryptic comments about ANC members being implicated in corruption and not adhering to the resolution he had adopted to leave the party.
“The ANC is a party of honest people and we must discipline those who are not honest. When we go to this conference we must remember that our people are watching. We must get rid of factionalism,” he said.
