Johnathan Paoli
THE African National Congress (ANC) have pulled out all the stops in its campaign trails, with former president Thabo Mbeki and former deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe, being among some of the former leaders expected to campaign for the ruling party in its efforts to garner more support.
The ruling party issued a statement on Wednesday and said that former president Mbeki is expected to lead the ANC’s campaign trail in Soweto on Thursday.
Last week during his campaign trail in KwaZulu-Natal, President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed that most of the party’s former leaders, except former president Zuma, would start campaigning for the ANC and that many former officials had agreed to be deployed in various communities during the election campaign.
“We have many leaders in the ANC, and they will all soon come out and campaign. They all believe in this campaign and when the schedules are sorted, you will see all of them,” President Ramaphosa said.
Party spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri confirmed that this formed part of the ANC’s deployment of elderly and former leaders in its campaign efforts.
“We are bringing out our big guns for the elections. We will be rolling out their schedules for the campaigns,” Bhengu-Motsiri said.
Mbeki will kick off his campaign with a walkabout in Soweto on Thursday. His involvement makes him the first former ANC president to campaign for the party after his successor Jacob Zuma opted to head the newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party.
However, this is a turnaround on Mbeki’s part because the 2nd President of a democratic SA after Nelson Mandela, caused a stir last year, when during the eulogy at a memorial service for former Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad, criticised Ramaphosa and the party, and said that the renewal project has not been adequately actualised, and that the project was not being implemented.
Mbeki subsequently expressed his support for the party and that as a member of his party of choice, he had an obligation to play his part for the party and engage the citizens.
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