Former President Thabo Mbeki Warns ANC Against Declaring New Leaders Ahead of its Conference: "It's a Trap"

• Former President Thabo Mbeki was called to intervene in the ANC Free State provincial leadership's current struggle with divisions
• Mbeki said the spotlight must be firmly fixed on internal challenges within the organisation, including doing away with factionalism
• South Africans were far more pessimistic on social media and rubbished the possibility that the ruling party could ever address its struggles

BLOEMFONTEIN - Former President Thabo Mbeki met with the African National Congress (ANC) in the Free State to intervene in the deep divisions plaguing the leadership in that province.

Here, Mbeki warned against what he labelled a "trap" in which ANC assemblages are used to declare the party's new leaders even before its 55th elective conference in December.

Mbeki was in part referring to ANC Limpopo Provincial Chairperson Stan Mathabatha's move to pronounce support for President Cyril Ramaphosa for a second term in office, SABC News reported.

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Factionalism must be addressed

The former president said this rhetoric should be discouraged as it was not in line with the party's values. He told ANC representatives the spotlight must, instead, be shone on internal challenges within the organisation, not least the factionalism rampant in its structures.

"It's a trap. And this is because this course of action will, undoubtedly, lead to a preoccupation about who else support will come from. This will result in completely forgetting about critical assignments nationally," said Mbeki.

The three-day visit by Mbeki to the province concluded on Saturday, having arrived on the behest of an ANC Interim Committee. News24 reported an interim leadership has taken charge of the province after the disbandment of the elected structures per a court order.

'ANC can't be saved'

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South Africans made it a point to express that the ruling party was beyond saving and that Mbeki's efforts were futile. Briefly News takes a look at some of the loudest reactions below.

@Nkosinathi Mahoota Mali wrote:

"Nobody can save the ANC, even if they bring back the people who founded the party to try and save it, they will fail. The sooner we all accept that there are 2 sides of the ANC the better."

@Johnny Sebothuma said:

"ANC runs out of ideas on how to run this country, the only thing left in them is to loot, fight among themselves and protect illegal foreigners more than their tickets to the good life (voters)."

@Rudzani De O'jays Mukwevho added:

"Until they liquidate this existing party and form a new one, there's no future in this one because all of them are Mafias and they think citizens owe them for running into exile during apartheid."

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Ramaphosa's address fails to inspire confidence

Elsewhere, Briefly News reported that Ramaphosa's State of the Nation (SONA) address was not received with the air of optimism the president would have been hoping for when he arrived at the Cape Town City Hall on Thursday, 10 February.

South Africans were guarded as they listened to Ramaphosa setting out key policy objectives, highlighting achievements, addressing challenges, and outlining interventions to unlock development constraints for the coming financial year.

But not all of it was to the liking of discerning and expectant citizens, many of whom felt that the address lacked an extra punch. Instead, South Africans berated the rehashing of the "same-old promises" in the "same-old tone".

Source: Briefly News