Former president Thabo Mbeki has highlighted the need for the ANC to have revolutionary cadres with the country’s interests at heart to help build a non-racial state that will adequately address the people’s challenges.
Speaking at the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg on Sunday during the Gauteng ANC Renewal Workshop, Mbeki said the party’s renewal is really needed and should be taken seriously.
“We need revolutionary cadres to be able to achieve non-racial and non-sexist South Africa. What would renewal of the ANC consist of?
ANC needs renewal
“We need renewal as the ANC has identified a decline in membership. The idea of renewal, the party needs to identify the problem and audit its membership,” said Mbeki.
The former ANC president said the crucial matter that needs to be addressed is how the state is organised, based on the Freedom Charter, which states that the people shall govern.
He pointed out that the party should align itself with the people on the ground to understand their challenges and get a clear understanding of issues faced by the masses.
“When the ANC gets 40 percent of votes during May 29 elections, it translates to me that this outcome constitutes threats to the democratic revolution and to the leader of that revolution, which is the ANC.
“Questions arise immediately on what do you do to defend the ANC in this regard, and this is the centre of our discussion on what should be done to defend the revolution and the ANC,” he said.
“We should turn the page towards delivering goods and services to the people nationally, provincial and local.
“We should use that advantage to work for our people. The masses have lost confidence in the ANC, and for us to win back their hearts is to use the capacity we have to address the matters we have identified as the party,” he said.
