MBOMBELA – The ANC does not feel threatened by any mushrooming of new political parties, instead, it is taking every political development seriously and surging ahead to ensure it clinches victory in the forthcoming general elections.
This was spelled out by the organisation’s Secretary General, Mr Gwede Mantashe during an exclusive interview with this newspaper on Monday afternoon.
“The ANC is not threatened because we are not flat-footed, but are taking everything around us very seriously. Instead, such developments and accusations hurled at us, have strengthened our campaign among all the communities across the land. We are speaking to our people on the ground in all provinces, in order to ensure that we don’t act on promises this time around, but total deliverance.
“Our work among the communities spans over 20 years and we now need to bolster our governance in its entirety,” he said.
He was speaking on the week, whereby, the ANC has converged in the province to celebrate 102 years of the existence of the organisation, which, according to Mantashe, is celebrating the milestone achievements of the organisation.
“This time around, we are celebrating our 102 years existence on Wednesday (January 8), back to back with the launch of the ANC election manifesto on Saturday 11 January. It all began with members of the organiation attending church services in different denominations on Sunday.
“Yesterday (Wednesday), our members embarked on a door-to-door campaign in different communities. The president was in Bohlabela and myself, I was in Bethal in Gert Sibande district and all of the others were sprawled around the province in manner of getting to know and act on communities’problems on the ground.
“When we get to launching the manifesto on Saturday, we will be re-visiting the policies we agreed upon back in 2009, and not promises which we will re-evaluate and map a way forward for the total liberation of our people,” he explained.
Asked if they were not theatened by the existence of new political parties like Julius Malema’s EFF, Cope and others, Mantashe said: “Cope was formed before 2009 and with this election, they may cease to exist. If you talk about the EFF, we cannot feel threatened by mad people. It was said EFF was making an impact in some areas, but come by-elections, it proved otherwise.
“It also goes for all other political groupings that exist in South Africa, they are no match for the ANC as we are the oldest, biggest and wisest organisation,” he said.
Asked if he was prepared to face the communities during their campaigns, some of whom have said on social media and other platforms, that they wouldn’t vote for the ANC if President Jacob Zuma was still in his position, Mantashe said: “All matters are about the organisation, not about an individual.
“There is no ANC leader who has not been criticised since the dawn of democracy. We had President Nelson Mandela whom the Boeremag conspired to kill, Thabo Mbeki who was severely criticsed and eventually removed. Now we have President Zuma who is also being criticised. Individuals are not the organisation, but we live with that and it has spurred us on to doing even much better,” he pointed out.
