ANC national chairperson Gwede Mantashe believes that the corrupt elements within the governing party are a product of society at large, not the creation of the party itself.
Mantashe said this to the residents of Tokyo Sexwale and Ramaphosa informal settlements in Germiston, Gauteng, while he was on a campaign trail in Ekurhuleni.
According to Mantashe, it was foolhardy for people to suggest that the ANC was corrupt when its members are products of society that has corrupt people who are not ANC members.
More disturbingly for Mantashe were those inside the ANC, who ran with this narrative, which he firmly holds is meant to “collapse the ANC”.
The corrupt are in society
He said the ANC had done its best to rid itself of thieves and the corrupt within its ranks and should be given a pat on the back for this.
“Someone says to me the ANC is a convention of thieves and the corrupt; I told them that is not true; the corrupt are in society,” said Mantashe.
“It is the people from society who join the ANC — the corrupt and the upright ones. It is the ANC’s duty to isolate the corrupt, identify them, and get them arrested one by one.
“What is happening to society spills over to the ANC. Our duty is to be vigilant. But we cannot collapse the organisation because of corrupt and rogue elements within our ranks.”
Mantashe said the ANC was like a beautiful plantation with weeds that ought to be isolated, but burning the whole plantation was simply not an option.
EFF’s pie-in-the-sky promises
The minister of energy and mineral resources took a swipe at the DA, EFF and MK Party. He said the EFF was making people “pie-in-the-sky” promises that would never materialise.
This was while the DA was longing to take the country back to the dark ages, when black people were treated as subhuman.
As for the MK Party, he charged that it was nothing but a convention of individuals who were bitter that they were no longer in power in the ANC.
“They want to cling to power by all means necessary. They were given power and responsibilities by the ANC, but when their time was up, they could not accept that it was up and it was the turn for others.
“Therefore, worry not about splinters; they will always be there; they’re driven by uncontrollable love and obsession with power.”
ANC remains a trusted political party
Mantashe said the ANC remained the trusted political force by the majority of South Africans because of its track record in service delivery and improving the lives of millions in just 30 years in power.
The ANC, he added, had achieved much more in a short space of time to end more than 300 years of colonial minority rule.
In fact, according to him, all the doomsayers will eat humble pie when the ANC emerges with more than 60% electoral victory in the forthcoming national and provincial elections.
As for the DA, he predicted that the Western Cape would slip out of its control by dipping under 50%.
