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Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Gwede Mantashe.
- ANC President Gwede Mantashe says some members of the ANC are destroying each other.
- Mantashe said there is also a tendency to attack President Cyril Ramaphosa.
- He adds that the ANC has failed to take advantage of the cracks in the DA.
ANC President Gwede Mantashe has spoken out against the emerging tendency of ANC leaders to want to destroy each other under the pretext of “cleaning up the organization.”
Mantashe spoke during an online conference on organizational renewal Thursday night in the Sarah Baartman region of the Eastern Cape.
“The new trends that are emerging [sic] It is the desire to destroy each other but using the cover of the cleanliness of the organization. It has nothing to do with cleaning up the organization. It is a revolution that begins to devour its own children. It is very strong in this province, ”he said.
Mantashe said the second trend that was creeping into party structures was the ease with which members attack President Cyril Ramaphosa.
“It seems to be a mass movement that is very dissatisfied with the president and the reality of the matter is to weaken the pillars of the organization, the presidency being one of the pillars. It seems revolutionary but if you look closely it is counterrevolutionary.”
Ramaphosa came under fire from ANC members after he wrote to party members expressing his disgust at the corruption allegations against the members and calling for those involved to step aside.
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His most powerful critic was former President Jacob Zuma, who wrote to Ramaphosa asking him to come under scrutiny over his CR17 campaign for the ANC presidency.
Andile Lungisa, the former vice president of the ANC youth league, also wrote to Ramaphosa calling him to order.
Mantashe said that while he was criticized for protecting Zuma during his time as secretary-general, he remained committed to protecting the president’s office to the end.
“If a decision is made in a structure where you serve, whether you agree or not, it never comes out and says that this is the decision, I do not agree because that decision is yours.”
Corruption and faction battles
Mantashe also spoke about corruption, saying that a process to rid the party of corrupt members was underway and was beginning to pay off.
“The members of the ANC shout why me, because so-and-so last year took over the task? We are starting a process and it will be very complete, it will address practical issues,” he said.
He regretted that the party was permanently in conference mode, looking internally as it began to see a realignment of forces.
“People who worked together [are] dividing into different factions because factions by their nature mutate. The faction mutation is going to create new factions from a particular faction that was winning at the last conference and we are already working on the next conference, “he said, adding that the ANC must protect itself against this.
He said that because the ANC was busy fighting internal factional battles, it was not taking advantage of the gaps and crevices of the DA which “is cleaning itself of black members.”
Mantashe also spoke about a debate in the ANC about their policy document on the deployment of cadres.
Some within the national executive committee are calling for cadre deployment to be based on academic qualification, yet Mantashe said some, including himself, argued that it should be a combination of loyalty and competence.
“There will be colleagues from the ANC who have never had the luxury of going to school but who can be activists for the same right … But as we do so we must not ignore the importance of quality that is the role of academic grades “he added. he said.
