ANC Veterans League’ concerned about party’s reliance on coalitions

The African National Congress (ANC) Veterans’ League says it believes the ruling party will win the 2024 elections despite the instability caused by coalitions.

On Sunday, the ANC Veterans’ League president Snuki Zikalala briefed the media on the outcomes of the three-day lekgotla in Johannesburg.

Zikalala said the veterans’ league was planning to form branches.

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“We don’t have veterans’ league branches [so we need to] firstly establish and build [these] branches of the veterans’ league and the ANC in the battle of ideas in developing and modelling what kind of cadre we want to see in proposing concrete steps that the mother body should take and be held accountable for,” he said.

“The lekgotla agreed that our initial target should be to establish one branch per ANC region or sub-region depending on the circumstances in each province.”

He confirmed the veterans’ league’s intention to hold a national conference by July.

“There is also a process underway to consider amendments to our constitution which can be adopted at the national conference and enable the renewal of the veterans’ league itself,” Zikalala said.

Coalitions

Zikalala said the veterans’ league was concerned about the political instability at local government level.

“We are aware that we’ve got 42 dysfunctional municipalities. We, as veterans, have committed ourselves to ensure that those municipalities are fixed, not by civil servants, not by us intervening directly but making sure that branches of the veterans’ league are encouraged to participate in fixing those municipalities.

“The veterans’ league was concerned about the coalitions being formed without adherence to principle or the imperative to deliver services to our people,” the ANC Veterans’ League president continued.

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Zikalala further said the members of the veterans’ league was worried that the reliance on coalitions would signal that the ANC was not confident in winning future elections.

“We are confident in winning elections because we know why people stayed away… we failed them in service delivery and there was no accountability.”

He also urged eligible veterans to join the league.

“With the veterans’ league, we recruit… people don’t just join. Immediately if you are 60 years of age and 40 years of uninterrupted service, we then call you and say ‘comrades you have now reached that stage, can you join the veterans’ league?’. What we do is vet every comrade who comes in so that what’s we are committed to.”

Mbeki letter

Meanwhile, Zikalala said former president Thabo Mbeki was well within his rights to raise concerns about Phala Phala.

“[The ANC] top seven had a discussion with him last week [but] we have not even engaged the top seven and comrade Mbeki,” he said on Sunday.

“Comrade Mbeki addressed us this morning on the issue of unity and renewal of the African National Congress, but on those issues we have not deliberated on them because we don’t have a report from the top seven of the ANC.

“As a member of the [party], he has got the right if he has concerns about what’s happening with Phala Phala and so let’s hear what they saying, but we as veterans feel that since the matter is under review there’s no point in discussing it at all.”

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“Comrade Mbeki has never shied away from raising any issue that’s he is concerned about… he has done it before.”

Zikalala confirmed that the ANC’s National Working Committee (NWC) would meet on Monday to discuss the matter.

“They will give us a report.”

In a 17-page letter written to ANC deputy president Paul Mashatile last month, Mbeki said President Cyril Ramaphosa’s explanations for Phala Phala encouraged a “suspicion” of money laundering.

Mbeki also claimed that the public protector’s report that cleared Ramaphosa was “interim … not the final”.