WENDY MOTHATA
THE South African Communist Party (SACP) General Secretary Blade Nzimande said on Saturday that the poor performance of the ANC at the recent 2021local government elections should be a wake-up call for the ruling party.
He said voters sent a message of ‘tough love’ to the ruling party where voters chose not to go to the polls.
The ANC dropped below 50% support nationally during the recent local government elections.
Nzimande delivered a message of support at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane to mark the ANC’s 110th birthday anniversary.
He said that there is anger and disappointment from some of the ANC’S voters.
“We must also learn the right lessons from the 2021 local government elections, the message of tough love sent to by our own voters by choosing not to go and vote must send a message that our structures must take to heart. There is anger and disappointment from some of our own voters. We better listen to this voice and change the way we do things including admitting to, and seeking to correct the mistakes we have made,” said Nzimande.
Nzimande said the SACP welcomes the release of the first part of the state capture report.
He said both public and private sectors involved in corruption should be called into account and prosecuted.
“In order to effectively tackle state capture, we need to clean whatever rot has crept into the state security cluster,” he said.
Nzimande said that there is a connection between the July unrest and the burning of parliament last week.
“We as the SACP we smell a rat, we are very suspicious that the is a connection between the July unrest and the torching of our parliament,” he said.
Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) President Zingiswa Losi has challenged the ruling party to use the birthday anniversary to reflect and rebuild.
She said this was the day to reconnect and put the people first, “to ensure that people are trusting us again.”
Losi said that Cosatu welcomes the release of the first part of the Zondo Commission into State Capture.
“Let us accept the responsibility at the same time as we embrace the achievement. We must also take responsibility for our failures because only if we acknowledge them, we will be able to correct ourselves. We welcome the release of the first part of the Zondo Commission into State Capture,” she said.
Losi reiterated that action needs to be taken to re-establish the ANC’s trust.
“If we don’t change, if we don’t rebuild, 2024 will be a difficult year for us. If we rebuild the ANC, if we unite the alliance 2024 will mark another victory of the ANC,” she added.
- Inside Politics
