NTOMBI NKOSI AND MASHUDU SADIKE
Despite the huge deficit in terms of nominations between ANC presidential hopeful Dr Zweli Mkhize and President Cyril Ramaphosa, the former health minister is confident he will give the incumbent a run for his money at the party’s 55th national elective conference.
On Tuesday, the governing party’s electoral committee, headed by former president Kgalema Motlanthe, announced the top six candidates who will contend for leadership positions at the conference.
Mkhize will go head-to-head for the position of ANC president with Ramaphosa at the conference.
Ramaphosa was nominated by 2 037 branches while Mkhize was given the nod by 916 branches.
Mkhize, speaking to Independent Media before delivering the Bertha Gxowa Memorial Lecture in Katlehong on Wednesday night, said: “The branches have indicated that they want a leadership that will focus on the implementation of the policies and resolutions of the ANC.
“I express my appreciation to the branches that have nominated me overwhelmingly. The fact that I am in the ballot box is an indication that most of the branches have confidence in my ability,” said a confident Mkhize.
He also confirmed suspicions that his camp could be supported by ANC heavyweights Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma and Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, who had both shown interests in competing for presidency. He said that discussions to team up were ongoing.
“Discussions involving ANC structures as we head toward the national conference are ongoing. Following the culture of the ANC, this is the period for persuasion and exchange of ideas of what are the best solutions to the challenges we face in society.
“We can confirm that leadership, especially KZN leadership and other leaders in other provinces and nationally, are engaged in negotiations with ANC structures in order to find common ground.”
Delivering the lecture, Mkhize called for the dismantling of factions after the conference because they were threatening the ANC.
He said: “We will end factions and ensure that leaders pull in the same direction, and that everyone must feel as valued in the ANC, and that each leader and member of the ANC must be allowed to contribute to ensure the longevity and effectiveness of the organisation.”
The former health minister also said the party was not for sale, hinting at the buying of votes at conferences.
“It does not matter how much, we refuse to be bought,” he exclaimed.
He expressed a concern about the social and economic matters the country was facing. “We have high unemployment, soaring to levels last seen during apartheid. Inequality is the worst in the whole world.”
Mkhize also said fuel and food prices were raging uncontrollably high.
“Poverty has returned to decimate even those whose lives had improved at the end of apartheid. Corruption, crime, violence, gender-based and feminine, aggravated by alcohol and drug abuse, have reached epidemic proportions.
“As leaders of the ruling party we must accept our failures, apologise and commit to do things differently to restore the hope of our people in the ANC as the instrument for liberation in the hands of our people,” he said.
Mkhize said there was a need to reignite the hope and correctness of people's belief in a better life for all South Africans and the creation of the national democratic society.
“This is a society where all the basic needs have been met and the legacy of apartheid has been eradicated to usher in a more equal society.
“But we have here an opportunity to flex our muscles, roll up our sleeves and do what needs to be done to position our movement as a powerful force of resilience and adaptability. When the ANC was banned in 1960, the leadership cohort of OR Tambo was confronted by a daunting task of recasting, rebuilding and reconceptualising the ANC.
“Today we are faced by the same set of challenges, be it in a different context. We have every capability of recasting, rebuilding and reconceptualising the ANC in order to adequately respond to the challenges of the day,” he said.
Mkhize said each and every delegate who would be at the ANC 55th national conference owed it to Gxowa to ensure that they elected strong candidates who were brave.
He said Gxowa and other women made it clear that they were part of a struggle and the struggle was their fashion.
“At that time many people thought that the Women’s Day march would not succeed. Today when you talk about August 9 we talk about a day which reminds us about the struggle for equality for women which is integral to the struggle for the liberation of all South Africans. These are the women who taught us that there can never be a struggle for liberation unless it addresses the oppression that is faced by women,” said Mkhize.
He disagreed with the government's characterisation of what happened in the July unrest, saying that the leadership was out of touch with people.
“We cannot have a leadership that fails to understand the psyche of its own people. Mam Gxowa went all over but she never misrepresented the people’s thinking, because she was in touch with the people.
“Leadership that is not in touch gives you the wrong diagnosis like a doctor who looks at you from a distance and does not examine you and give you treatment for a headache while you have a stomach ache,” said Mkhize.