The ANC has made an SOS call to former president Thabo Mbeki to come to its rescue before the May 29 general elections, as the governing party fears it might lose its position as the opposition mounts a serious campaign to dislodge it from power.
Sunday World can exclusively reveal that ANC head of organising Mdu Manana has met with Mbeki, where he nuzzled him to join their campaign trail.
This was after the organisation learned that Mbeki had planned to pen another scathing letter to the ANC expressing his disappointment and unavailability to help the party with its election campaign.
So serious is the party’s intention to get Mbeki in its corner it also unleashed its deputy president, Paul Mashatile, to have a one-on-one with the former president to listen to his concerns.
Mbeki, according to our moles, intended to write a letter about two weeks ago stating “damning reasons” why the ANC mustn’t expect him to be part of their election campaigns.
Serious corruption allegations against certain senior party members, said the source, were among the reasons he did not want to be associated with the party.
Mbeki, who is in Geneva, Switzerland, has agreed to meet with Mashatile upon his return.
Sunday World has learned that Mbeki has already met with the ANC head of organising, Mdu Manana, and was due to meet with Mashatile for further
engagements.
An insider with intimate knowledge of the events said the ANC believes Mbeki would bolster the ANC’s waning popularity among the black middle class.
“We obviously need president Mbeki in the campaign, and it was encouraging to hear him say all ANC members must campaign during his last
public lecture at Unisa,” said our informant.
“He enjoys the trust of the middle-class voting block, which is drifting away from the ANC, and there are not many leaders who appeal to that constituency, so having him on our campaign would help a great deal.”
The leader said Mbeki was not the only former leader the ANC was trying to convince to join the campaign charm offensive.
The party’s former deputy presidents, including Kgalema Motlanthe and David Mabuza, as well as the country’s former second-in-command, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and Baleka Mbete, were being engaged.
With Motlanthe, the hope of no resistance was high, given that he had played a role in the current ANC leadership as chairman of the electoral committee.
Luthuli House hoped Mlambo-Ngcuka would get brownie points within the professional women’s constituency.
There was, however, doubt about Mabuza and Mbete.
It is believed that Mabuza is sulking because he believes ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa betrayed him at the recent ANC elective conference by failing to persuade his faction to re-elect him as deputy president.
While there is fear Mbete might show the party the middle finger for the legal woes faced by her friend, former Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, who was recently charged with alleged solicitation of kickbacks when she was defence minister.
“She is very angry about the Nosiviwe situation, but we don’t understand because if comrades are alleged to be involved in wrongdoing, due process must take place, be it our friends or not.
“We can’t be selective, and the ANC has nothing to do with the situation Nosiviwe finds herself in,” said our informant.
Mbeki previously said he wasn’t available to campaign for the ANC but hinted that he might make himself available during a recent lecture at Unisa.
Mbeki could not be reached for comment at the time of going to press as he is overseas.
ANC national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said the understanding was that Mbeki would campaign for the ANC, having said so himself during his last public lecture at the Unisa headquarters.
Bhengu-Motsiri said Mbeki had been engaging with the ANC national officials and giving
inputs on various issues, including the election strategy.
However, she added, it was not only Mbeki the party was hoping to drink from his well of wisdom, but many former leaders such as Motlanthe, Mlambo-Ngcuka, Mbete and others.
“The understanding from both sides is that president Mbeki is part of the campaign. He said so during his speech at the Unisa lecture, so there is no issue at all,” she said.
