Africa-Press – South-Africa. After a marathon seven-hour meeting with the ANC in Limpopo, former president Thabo Mbeki said he would not stop publicly criticising the ANC and its leaders.
On Thursday, the ANC in Limpopo met with Mbeki at the Thabo Mbeki Foundation in Johannesburg.
The Limpopo structure, led by ANC provincial secretary Reuben Madadzhe, sought a meeting with Mbeki after he publicly criticised the ANC and President Cyril Ramaphosa.
“As the ANC in Limpopo, we expressed our worry that while we do not have problems with the content of his speech, we were of the view that they should be raised internally rather than on the public platform.
“The former president said he had been raising the issues, which he made public, within the internal structures of the ANC. He said he would continue making his concerns heard within the ANC and outside,” ANC Limpopo spokesperson Machaka Mathole said.
On Saturday, Mbeki joined former ANC leaders Jacob Zuma and Kgalema Motlanthe in criticising the party.
This is not a new form of criticism from Mbeki, who has been vocal about his concerns over the membership quality of the ANC and its renewal project.
Mbeki’s speech on Saturday at the annual general meeting of the Strategic Dialogue Group was much more striking for the ANC in Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal because Mbeki brought in the Phala Phala saga.
Both provinces issued statements raising concern about Mbeki, Motlanthe and Zuma’s criticism.
Mbeki said the ANC had to discuss a plan on what it would do if the criminal investigation into the February 2020 robbery at Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm found that the president had a case to answer.
An independent panel, appointed by National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula was tasked with deciding if Ramaphosa had a case to answer, and began its work last week.
Mbeki said the panel’s work and the criminal probe into the robbery would have consequences for the ANC.
The former president repeated these utterances to the ANC in Limpopo during Thursday’s meeting, News24 has been told.
The ANC in Limpopo was adamant that the investigations into the Phala Phala matter should be left to law enforcement agencies and should not be ventilated by the party without a clear outcome.
Mbeki said if the ANC did not prepare itself for the possibility that the panel could decide that Ramaphosa had a case to answer, the political ramifications may cost the party.
“Mr Mbeki is concerned about the Phala Phala issue and said the ANC had to begin discussions on Phala Phala, and that we have to prepare for this. We will engage our structures on the matter, but we have reservations,” Mathole told News24.
“One of the main issues for us, as the ANC in Limpopo, is we should leave the issue of the Phala Phala matter to law enforcement agencies. If they find that the president has a case to answer, we will go back to the drawing board. He (Mbeki) advised us that we do not have to wait for that moment and that events might overtake us. We should prepare ourselves,” Mathole added.
Mbeki advised the province that the ANC national conference in December would be a “watershed” moment for the party, and the 2024 elections – predicted to be a crucial one for the ANC – should be top of the agenda for the party.
Ramaphosa is seeking a second term as ANC president, and his closest competitor so far is former health minister Zweli Mkhize.
Mbeki has warned about a growing “pick me” culture in the ANC, saying many of those running had no clear campaign message.
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