Mbeki urges ANC to put survival first after local election defeat
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on TimesLIVE and Business Day (South Africa)
Former president Thabo Mbeki calls on the ANC to put its institutional survival ahead of keeping its municipal positions, after scoring 30.76% in the 4 November local elections, its worst result in a local poll. He speaks as the party's national executive committee must set its coalition strategy, according to TimesLIVE.
In an interview broadcast on Monday on the African Renaissance Podcast, Thabo Mbeki said the electoral setback largely frees the party from the task of governing. He believes the ANC should respect voters' choice where it came first, but can leave the opposition in control where it lacks enough support to lead, citing the Gauteng metropolitan areas.
According to him, only about 10% of adults voted for the party. He recalls that the ANC won about 70% of valid votes in 2004, then about 40% in 2024, before falling to about 30% this year. Internal party polls, which projected about 28%, had already signalled a negative image of the ANC and of some of its leaders. “Some of your leaders are your problem,” he said.
Mbeki also criticises successive leaderships for not implementing the resolutions on renewing the organisation, adopted at the 2017 and 2022 national conferences. He cites a document from the ANC Veterans' League, submitted before the 2022 conference, which proposed concrete measures. “This document is still in the secretary-general's office,” he said.
