Mbeki’s lesson will fall on deaf ears

It seems former president Thabo Mbeki has had enough of ANC members using the party to further their careers – something that he insists must be addressed immediately if the ruling party has any chance of dealing with the scourge of corruption and growing the economy once again.

Mbeki, the keynote speaker at the 2021 Chief Albert Luthuli Memorial Lecture on Friday, pulled no punches as he criticised ANC members for putting their own interests ahead of the ANC and the country. Mbeki said: “One of these negative features is the emergence of careerism within our ranks.”

He added: “Many among our members see their membership of the ANC as a means to advance their personal ambitions, to attain positions of power and access to resources for their own individual gratification.” Mbeki also said the decline in the quality of ANC membership was behind their electoral collapse.

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The ANC lost the three crucial Gauteng metros of Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg and Tshwane, and many other municipalities in various provinces in last month’s local elections. Mbeki highlighted the ANC’s decline over the last 15 years.

The ANC lost 12.19% of national electoral support in the four national elections from 2004 to 2019 – a 3% loss of support on each election on average. We doubt any of the ruling party’s members will listen to Mbeki, which, in itself, highlights what is so wrong with the ANC and their members today.