Former president Thabo Mbeki on a campaign trail in Soweto

Soweto residents came out in numbers to meet and greet former President, Thabo Mbeki as he endeavoured to convince the public to support the ruling party in the upcoming national and provincial elections on May 29.

Mbeki’s appearance on Thursday, April 29 at Jabulani Mall where he urged the people to vote for ANC marked his returned to the campaign trail.

Speaking to the media, Mbeki said the response of the people in his walkabout was very good, despite him not being in Soweto for some time.

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“I think it is important that we should indeed return the ANC to power.

I know there are many problems within the country, even problems within the ANC and so as we say vote for ANC we are also making a commitment to the people that we will attend to the problems within the ANC itself to make sure that it is able to discharge its responsibility to the population,” said Mbeki.

The former president further explained that it is challenging to address the problems that the country is currently facing, such as poverty, unemployment and crime. However the ANC has the potential of fixing those problems only if it becomes an ANC that is transformed.

Mbeki has pointed out that he has remained an ANC member for all these years, despite not being visible during election campaigns since 2007.

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“For all these years I’ve always been a member of the ANC. So I think as a member I must take full responsibility for what the ANC does or doesn’t do, the rights and the wrongs of it, it’s our fault because I’m part of that,” he said.

He added that he is not an elected official of the ANC but he is a senior member and it is their responsibility as senior leaderships to make sure that they do the right thing in terms of the demands of the people.

During his conversation with Sowetans at the mall, Mbeki said he knows that the public has complaints about the party and that the party also consist of people who are not right, people who must be removed.

“I was very happy to see the people, especially to see their faces very happy because it shows that they are confident that the problems we’ve been facing are going to be solved, they have to be solved. I promise we will fix the ANC so that it can be able to represent the people and do what is supposed to do for the people,” said Mbeki.