Former police minister and ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula has denied ever influencing investigations or prosecutions arising from Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) cases, telling the Khampepe Commission of Inquiry that the minister of police has no authority over criminal investigations.

Testifying before the commission on Wednesday, Mbalula rejected allegations that he played any role in delaying or obstructing apartheid-era cases referred by the TRC.

The commission is investigating whether police officials and prosecutors unlawfully interfered with or delayed investigations and prosecutions stemming from the TRC process.

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Mbalula served as deputy minister of police from 2009 to 2010 and as minister of police from March 2017 to May 2018.

“As minister of police, I was never involved in TRC cases. I did not have authority to determine, direct or provide resources to any investigations relating to the TRC cases. Neither did I determine or influence decisions relating to the prosecution of TRC cases. I played no role whatsoever in the TRC cases,” Mbalula told the commission.

He said he never met with families connected to the cases and was never briefed by investigators or prosecutors handling TRC-related matters.

“I did not hold meetings or consultations with any member of the families related to the TRC cases. I did not receive a briefing from any member of the police investigating TRC cases, nor did I receive a briefing from any member of the National Prosecuting Authority responsible for prosecuting TRC cases,” he said.

Mbalula maintained that the minister of police is responsible for policy, not operational policing.

“The minister is responsible for policy, and not operations within the police portfolio. The minister of police therefore has no legal authority to determine or direct criminal investigations. The minister also plays no role in the allocation of operational resources to criminal investigations,” he said.

During cross-examination, evidence leader Advocate Howard Varney questioned Mbalula about reports that the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) had postponed work on some TRC-related cases until after the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Asked whether he had any knowledge of such a decision, Mbalula said he did not.

“I never had such a decision. From what you are presenting, counsel, it is quite clear that the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation would be better placed to explain what informed that decision,” he said.

The commission also heard questions relating to the case of anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Timol, who died in police custody in 1971. Mbalula said he could not recall any delays in the matter during his tenure.

Addressing concerns raised by families of apartheid-era victims over reparations, Mbalula said compensation should be dealt with through the appropriate legal processes.

“I think we must follow the processes to the letter in relation to outstanding matters, and one of those is the matter of compensation, which has to be addressed in the right way. We need to be clear about what we are doing here,” he said.

Mbalula acknowledged that victims’ families had waited too long for justice and said they deserved answers on the handling of TRC-referred cases.

Proceedings were adjourned after another witness scheduled to testify was declared medically unfit.

The commission is expected to resume hearings on Thursday.

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Three former police ministers will testify this week before the judicial inquiry investigating whether political pressure prevented apartheid-era crimes referred by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) from being investigated or prosecuted.

Bheki Cele is scheduled to appear on Tuesday, followed by Fikile Mbalula, the current ANC secretary general, on Wednesday, and Nathi Nhleko on Thursday. All three men have already submitted sworn statements.

Cele served as police minister from 2018 until 2024 and was previously national police commissioner, while Mbalula and Nhleko held the police portfolio during earlier administrations.

The inquiry is expected to probe what the former ministers knew of decisions, discussions or policies affecting TRC investigations during their terms in office.

Documents sent to the witnesses asked them to provide records, correspondence, minutes and personal accounts that could help establish whether pressure was placed on police officers or prosecutors to halt the cases.

President Cyril Ramaphosa established the inquiry in May 2025 to determine whether attempts had been made to prevent the investigation or prosecution of crimes committed under apartheid.

The commission is chaired by retired Constitutional Court judge Sisi Khampepe, assisted by retired Northern Cape judge president Frans Diale Kgomo and advocate Andrea Gabriel SC.

Its terms of reference cover the period from 2003.  

The inquiry must also determine whether police or prosecutors improperly cooperated with efforts to scupper or delay investigations and whether further investigations or prosecutions should be instituted against anyone found to have done so.  

The TRC ran from 1995 to 2003, with its public hearings taking place from 1996 to 1998.

It documented gross human rights violations committed during apartheid and referred hundreds of unresolved cases to prosecuting authorities. Many were not pursued, despite alleged perpetrators either being denied amnesty or never applying for it.

The initial five-volume report was handed to President Nelson Mandela in October 1998, while the codicil and remaining documents were presented to President Thabo Mbeki in March 2003.

The inquiry follows a high court application filed in January 2025 by 25 survivors and families of people killed or forcibly disappeared during apartheid.

They accused the post-apartheid state of politically suppressing investigations and prosecutions and sought about R167 million in constitutional damages.

Settlement discussions between the families and the government produced an agreement that an inquiry should be established.

Announcing the commission, Ramaphosa said the long delays had caused victims’ families “great anguish and frustration”, adding that all affected families and South Africans deserved closure and justice.

The inquiry was initially expected to run for six months, but its deadline was later extended. Ramaphosa has given the commission until December 18 to submit its final report.

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Hundreds of ANCWL members gathered in their regalia of green and black as the launch was also corresponded with celebrations of the 70th Anniversary of the 1956 Women’s March.

Mbalula took the initiative to remind ANCWL members convening at the launch that the recent Tshwane coalition government that came to govern post-ANC’s tenure in fact reversed most of the gains which the party had established in the municipality through its many years of governance.

He also highlighted that the party has been riddled by elements of thieving, materialism and corruption where its deployees steal from the state coffers. The SG urged party members to stop conveying solidarity to deployees accused of corruption.

“People are stealing state money. They must be brought to account because ANC did not deploy thieves. When someone is arrested [on charges of corruption], stop wearing party colours to go and support them, they must face the consequences alone. We must be firm, we must be decisive against corruption,” Mbalula said.

Mbalula has reiterated the assurance that the party’s Mayoral Candidates for Local Government Elections (LGE) 2026 will be put through a rigorous vetting process to source out high calibre leaders who will adequately represent the ANC at the municipal level.

He said that every Mayoral Candidate in every metro and District will have to pass a “public integrity test”, ensuring that they are well vetted.

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“We are not going to select candidates from the dark only to find, once selected, that they are thieves. We will thoroughly inspect, because it might happen that there are things about you. We want angels now; we are going to war. War of renewal, we are making a comeback as ANC,” Mbalula added.

The SG has called on ANC members to protect the party, outlining that only party members can kill the movement and no one else. He said that through the launch of the volunteer programme, the party should be secure and confident heading into the LGE 2026.

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ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula has accused former president Jacob Zuma and the uMkhonto weSizwe Party of exploiting anger over undocumented migration for votes.

“A man who was a president in this country, stands up on a platform and fuels violence. How can a person who was a leader not so long ago call for violence in the country? Does he know what will happen here? Who wants this violence? These people don’t know what they are talking about. He is supporting them for political reasons, because he wants votes,” he said.

Mbalula was addressing the media after a meeting of the ANC national working committee. His attack on Zuma comes as anti-illegal immigration protests intensify ahead of the June 30 “deadline” set by March & March and other anti-immigration activists for undocumented foreign nationals to leave the country.

He said the former president’s support for the campaign was part of a strategy to weaken the ANC ahead of the 4 November local government elections.

“Jacob Zuma has endorsed March and March and he has actually gone extreme and said Mabahambe (‘they must go’ — the slogan used in anti-illegal immigrant protests) and his people have owned up to this membership,” said Mbalula.

He said Zuma was widely regarded as an elder in South Africa and on the African continent, and should have led by example instead of endorsing a campaign he said risked violence against fellow Africans.

He said Zuma’s actions stood in contrast to Zulu King Misuzulu kaZwelithini, who had acted responsibly by calling on his subjects not to unleash violence against foreign nationals.

The secretary general said it was sad that the legendary Amabutho — Zulu Regiments — who are the pride of the Zulu nation, were now being drawn into anti-illegal immigration protests.

Mbalula admitted that the ANC agreed with some of the concerns being raised about illegal immigration, but said vigilantism and violence had to be condemned.

He said it was concerning that the narrative taking hold was that South Africa was xenophobic and hated fellow Africans, and that “we burn them, we kill them and we attack them”.

“You can imagine how many of our people who are flourishing in businesses on the African continent are under severe pressure as we speak, because of these activities,” he said.

The ANC has called for government to deal decisively with illegal immigration, but Mbalula said the issue could not be allowed to descend into violence, intimidation or attacks on fellow Africans.

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Claims that the African National Congress (ANC) stayed away from the Conference of the Left because of the participation of the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party, led by former ANC and state president Jacob Zuma, surfaced during the second day of the gathering in Boksburg on Saturday.

Addressing delegates, Shosholoza Party representative Dr Ray Rasenthu suggested that opposition to the MK Party’s presence was behind the ANC’s decision not to participate in the conference.

“I’m told at the ANC, this is based on rumour comrades, it’s boycotting the comrades because they are objecting to the presence of certain political parties here,” Rasenthu said.

“I’m told they are not happy with the MK presence in this conference.”

The remarks come just days after ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula announced that the party would not attend the three-day conference, which has brought together left-wing political parties, trade unions, activists and community organisations at the Birchwood Hotel.

At the time, Mbalula described the conference as “a political project dressed in theoretical clothing” and rejected claims that it represented a genuine gathering of left-wing formations.

The MK Party is among the organisations participating in the conference alongside the Economic Freedom Fighters, Azapo, the Pan Africanist Congress and several socialist organisations.

Rasenthu raised the issue while questioning the absence of senior ANC leaders from the event.

“Has socialism failed? Where are the communists? Who in the left is left?” he asked delegates.

He specifically questioned the absence of Gwede Mantashe and Buti Manamela, saying that divisions within the left movement were becoming increasingly visible.

The Shosholoza Party leader also called on the MK Party to publicly distance itself from allegations linking it to the anti-illegal immigration “March and March” movement, warning that unresolved concerns could deepen tensions within the conference.

“We need an explanation from the MKP,” he said.

Despite those concerns, Rasenthu praised MK deputy president Tony Yengeni’s address to delegates on the opening day of the conference.

“I like the speech by Comrade Tony Yengeni yesterday. It represented what we need,” he said.

The conference, convened by the South African Communist Party and other left formations, is expected to conclude on Sunday.

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The ANC has rejected participation in the upcoming “Conference of the Left” convened by the South African Communist Party (SACP).

ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula accused the initiative of being a political project aimed at undermining the governing party.

Addressing the media after a meeting of the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) on Tuesday, Mbalula said the ANC would not attend the conference scheduled for the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg from Friday to Sunday.

“The ANC will not participate in this conference,” Mbalula said.

“We have, however, invited the leadership of the SACP to a principal level engagement on the underlying questions in the standing discipline of the alliance.”

Among the parties that have confirmed attendance are the Economic Freedom Fighters, Umkhonto weSizwe Party, Azanian People’s Organisation, Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, Mayibuye Afrika, Socialist Party of Azania, Bolshevik Party of South Africa and the National Coloured Congress.

The ANC’s decision comes despite organisers describing the gathering as an effort to unite progressive organisations around a shared programme advancing working-class interests and opposing neoliberal economic policies.

Organisers said the conference sought to “unite the forces of the left in constructing and crystallising a shared campaign-based programme” focused on the emancipation of the working class and the transformation of society.

The steering committee insisted the conference was not intended to replace existing left organisations or create a new political party.

“The conference is not an attempt to undo the existing organisations of the left nor undermine their work,” the steering committee said.

“It seeks, rather, to create a framework to coordinate, elevate and strengthen their work through a common platform and common programme.”

According to organisers, the conference will include political parties, trade unions, social movements, youth organisations, environmental justice groups, solidarity economy organisations and international socialist formations, with 14 political parties, 14 trade unions and three union federations already registered to participate.

But Mbalula strongly disputed the characterisation of the gathering as a genuine left formation, saying its composition reflected an anti-ANC coalition rather than a coherent ideological project.

“We say openly to our country the ANC does not consider this convening to be a conference of the left,” he said.

“The composition is itself the political argument. A gathering that proposes to seat chambers of commerce alongside the Bolshevik Party, the Umkhonto weSizwe alongside Azapo, business formations alongside trade unions, is not a left formation in any received meaning of the term.”

Mbalula further questioned whether organisations attending the gathering could genuinely be classified as left-wing formations.

“Ideologically, we don’t think it’s a forum of the left. We think it’s just a protest of people coming together and then wanting to talk about everything under general, but over and above that this conference of the left to us ideologically outside the ANC and the alliance is not left,” he said.

“If you look at the composition of people who are there, we characterise here that that can’t be something that constitutes left. Civil society forum of people who are going to come together and propose, you can call it that, but left is debatable and we make that respectfully. It’s not.”

Mbalula described the conference as “a coalition of negation” united primarily by opposition to the ANC rather than a common programme for social transformation.

“It is a political project dressed in theoretical clothing,” he said.

Mbalula also linked some formations associated with the conference to individuals implicated in State Capture, referencing findings by the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture.

“The convening forces have chosen to associate themselves at this gathering with formations whose principal leadership figures were identified by the Judicial Commission of Enquiry into Allegations of State Capture, the Zondo Commission, as central to the wrecking of South African institutions,” Mbalula said.

He listed institutions including Eskom, Transnet, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) as among those allegedly damaged during the state capture period.

Mbalula repeatedly questioned the ideological consistency of parties and organisations behind the conference, saying many had previously defended coalition arrangements with parties outside traditional left politics.

“The notion that we come together because we are left, it has long been thrown out of the window by those who are proponents of the left conference today,” he said.

Referring to coalition politics in municipalities including Johannesburg and Tshwane, Mbalula said some organisations now championing left unity had previously argued that ideology should not determine political cooperation.

“When Johannesburg was lost in the hands of the ANC and in Tshwane, we were told by people who call themselves left that we must not bring that notion into the picture about left politics,” he said.

“There is nothing left about coalition politics.”

In what appeared to be a reference to the EFF, Mbalula said some parties attending the conference had previously accused the ANC of embracing the National Party (NP) in order to justify coalition arrangements with the Democratic Alliance (DA) in Johannesburg and Tshwane.

Mbalula also accused some political actors involved in the conference of seeking to weaken the ANC electorally.

“Their strategic objective is to defeat and destroy the ANC,” he said.

“Their strategic objective is to destroy the ANC. They have failed to destroy the ANC and they will never destroy the ANC even going forward. When the ANC invited them to the Government of National Unity, they started to play the rhetoric of the left. We said to them no man there is no left here, say something because we are working with everybody.”

Mbalula said the ANC would formally communicate its position to the SACP and would not devote further energy to the matter.

“We are not going to attend that conference. We have received the invite and we will write to the SACP and tell them that. Anyway, we were invited to speak for five minutes in that conference. It is not a platform that we think the real left of our country deserve to occupy themselves with,” he said.

Despite the sharp criticism, Mbalula maintained that the Tripartite Alliance involving the ANC, the SACP, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO) remained intact.

“The alliance has stood the test of time. The alliance has stood the test of personalities,” he said.

He added that the ANC would engage directly with the SACP leadership over the matter rather than escalate tensions publicly.

“We are not going to spend our time and energy on it, so we are not attending that conference,” Mbalula said.

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ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula has unveiled the reconfigured Gauteng provincial task team, led by Premier Panyaza Lesufi as convenor of the 45-member team, that will oversee the party’s structures in the province until elected leadership is chosen at a lawful provincial conference.

Mbalula, in a communique copied to national officials and other structures, said the task team had been endorsed by the national executive committee, the party’s highest decision-making body between conferences, and was assembled after the term of the previous team had expired.

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The elected provincial executive committee was replaced by an interim task team in February 2025 after the ANC’s poor performance in the May 2024 national and provincial elections.

Mbalula said the previous task team’s term of office had expired “by effluxion of time. Pending the constitution of a successor body in accordance with the constitution”.

He added that the task team had continued in office in the interim period as authorised by the NEC to ensure organisational continuity in the province.

The secretary-general said that after considering his office’s report, the recommendations of the national officials and national working committee, and in line with the party’s constitution, the NEC had decided to reconfigure the task team.

“(W)ith effect from the date of this letter, and in terms of Rule 12.2 of the Constitution, to constitute a new Provincial Task Team of the African National Congress in Gauteng Province, comprising the comrades named in the Schedule to this letter, to discharge the powers and functions of a provincial executive committee of the African National Congress in the Province until such time as a credible, lawful and properly constituted Provincial Conference of the African National Congress in the Province is convened to elect a new provincial leadership collective,” said the letter.

The new PTT has been directed to lead the ANC in Gauteng through the 2026 local government elections and thereafter to convene the next provincial conference within a period to be determined by the NEC on the recommendation of the national officials.

The task team’s top five were appointed as follows: convenor Panyaza Lesufi, deputy convenor Mandla Nkomfe, coordinator Sochayile “Socks” Khanyile, deputy coordinator Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko and fundraiser Tasneem Motara.

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The additional members were drawn proportionately from across the five regions and the letter states that the task team will function “in concert with ex officio leadership of the movement in the province in line with the constitution”.

It will be supported by sectoral leaders and permanent invitees named as Pastor Nonqaba Masonkuthu, Trevor Fowler, Craig Cornish and Greg Schneemann, as well as the provincial chairpersons and provincial secretaries of the ANC Women’s League, ANC Youth League and ANC Veterans’ League.

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The African National Congress (ANC) has withdrawn its application for leave to appeal an interim court order that halted its Eastern Cape 10th provincial elective conference, marking a shift in legal strategy in a dispute that has exposed deep divisions over membership processes in one of the party’s key regions.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the party confirmed that it, together with Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula, had formally filed a notice to withdraw the appeal at the East London Circuit Court in the Eastern Cape. 

The move follows the release of the presiding judge’s reasons for granting an interim interdict that stopped the conference in March.

ANC national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu said the decision was taken on legal advice after studying the judgment. 

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“The withdrawal follows the receipt of the learned judge’s formal reasons for the interim order and was taken on the considered advice of our legal team,” she said.

The court order, granted on 25 March by acting judge Babalo Metu, prevented the ANC from proceeding with its 10th provincial elective conference. The urgent application had been brought by a group of party members from Buffalo City, led by Lwazi Rotya, who challenged the integrity of the party’s branch verification process.

At the centre of the dispute is a verification report compiled under Mbalula’s office, which found that the province had met the required 70% threshold of audited branches to convene a conference. The applicants argued that the process was flawed and violated both the ANC constitution and Section 19 of the national Constitution, which guarantees political rights.

In his ruling, Metu found that the applicants had established a prima facie right to halt the gathering, citing unresolved disputes over branch general meetings, incomplete verification reports and the failure by the provincial executive to ratify key findings before the conference was scheduled to begin.

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The judgment effectively forced the ANC to postpone the high stakes conference, which was expected to determine the future leadership of the province. 

The Eastern Cape remains a strategic stronghold for the party, with its provincial leadership playing a significant role in shaping national dynamics ahead of broader electoral contests.

Despite the withdrawal of the appeal by the national leadership, the ANC’s provincial structure has signalled it will continue to challenge the court ruling through other legal means. Provincial spokesperson Yanga Zicina said the provincial executive committee had not abandoned the legal fight.

“We are forging ahead with the legal battle and are applying different tactical considerations insofar as our legal strategy is concerned,” Zicina said. 

“We’re under legal advice on which tactics and what options are best available to us. The ANC is forging ahead with the processes to ensure conference seats. We are basically applying a different legal strategy.”.

Bhengu said the ANC remains confident it can demonstrate compliance with both court directives and its own internal rules. 

“These avenues will enable the African National Congress to demonstrate, on a full evidentiary footing, that the movement has adhered to the order of the Court, and that the membership records and administrative processes of the ANC in the Eastern Cape are sound and consistent with the Constitution of the African National Congress,” she said.

The party has indicated that instead of pursuing an appeal, it will use alternative legal processes to present evidence addressing concerns raised in court. This approach is expected to focus on resolving disputes around branch audits, delegate accreditation and membership records, which have been at the heart of the litigation.

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The ANC has reiterated its commitment to the rule of law and the authority of the courts, emphasising that the conference will only proceed once all legal and constitutional requirements have been satisfied.

“The convening of the Provincial Elective Conference of the Eastern Cape will be undertaken in accordance with the ANC Constitution and consistent with the directions of our courts of law,” Bhengu said.

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ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula said on Monday that ANC members who also belong to the South African Communist Party will be asked in writing to state whether they will campaign for the ANC or the SACP in the upcoming local government elections.

Those who ignore the process and campaign against the ANC will face consequences, he said.

Mbalula said at a press briefing at Luthuli House in Johannesburg that letters would be sent out next week to ANC members with dual membership, giving them 10 days to clarify where they stand once campaigning begins.

The secretary general said reports that dual members had until Tuesday to resign were incorrect, adding that the ANC was not moving to expel members of its alliance partner but was instead seeking clarity on who they would campaign for.

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“You misunderstand that the letter will be written. It’s not yet written by the secretary general to all ANC members including those in the SACP to respond in 10 days if ever they will campaign for the SACP or the ANC. That letter will come out next week to all members.

“Now, if you don’t respond to that letter but you continue to campaign for the SACP, there will be consequences because the ANC constitution is very clear that dual membership is acceptable but if now the SACP is a party on its own campaigning and therefore you are an SACP member and you campaign for the SACP, you have to choose the SACP,” he said.

Mbalula said the choice would have to be made in writing so that the ANC had it on record.

He said communists would not be kicked out of the ANC because the alliance had not been broken, but that the SACP had taken a decision to contest for state power in its own right.

He said the situation should not be treated as though the SACP were an enemy in the same way as other opposition parties, adding that the ANC would assess after the elections what impact the SACP’s contestation had on the alliance.

 “[Y]ou can’t campaign for both. I can’t be Mbalula communist party in the afternoon and in the morning, I am ANC. It’s a practical question. You can’t as a minister, deputy minister or as a mayor campaign for both. Others have already chosen that they will stay with the ANC and campaign for the ANC,” he said.

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The ANC and the SACP have been at odds since the communist party resolved in late 2024 to contest the 2026 local government elections independently, a move it failed to reverse despite a series of engagements.

Mbalula said the ANC had accepted that the matter was now settled and was briefing its structures on the implications for the campaign and for relations within the alliance during the election period.

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ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula said on Monday that corruption, failing local government and poor service delivery had eroded public trust in the party, using a memorial for anti-apartheid activist Solomon Mahlangu to press for renewal ahead of the 2026 municipal elections.

Delivering the Solomon Mahlangu memorial lecture at Mamelodi West Community Hall on the 47th anniversary of Mahlangu’s execution, Mbalula said the ANC faced a moment of reckoning as it tried to rebuild confidence among communities increasingly frustrated by weak governance and broken services.

“Let us not mince words: Solomon Mahlangu did not give his life so that deployed officials could enrich themselves. Every act of corruption committed under the ANC’s banner is a betrayal of Solomon Mahlangu. Every service delivery failure is a desecration of his memory. Every leader who prioritises faction over the nation spits on the grave of those who gave their lives for liberation,” he said.

He said the local government crisis was no longer something the party could explain away.

“We meet at a time when the trust between the people and the movement has been diminished. Across many communities, particularly at the level of local government, our people are confronted with failing services, unemployment, inequality, and a growing sense of disillusionment.

“The very institutions that were meant to advance freedom are, in some instances, seen as distant, ineffective, or even compromised. This reality demands not defensiveness, but decisive action,” Mbalula said.

Mbalula placed Mahlangu within the liberation tradition associated with Oliver Tambo, Walter Sisulu and Nelson Mandela, and said the ANC had once stood as a movement that inspired millions.

He said that legacy now had to be defended through clean governance and visible improvements in people’s lives.

“The economy is not growing as it should because it is owned by a few and therefore not diversified enough to enable greater economic participation and job creation. This is why we adopted the Economic Action Plan, because we want to accelerate not just economic growth but also diversification in terms of both ownership and economic sectors,” he said.

Mbalula said organisational renewal would mean more than rhetoric, adding that the ANC had to restore discipline, rebuild its ethical core and reconnect with communities that had lost faith in the party’s leadership.

“Renewal is not a slogan. It is a process of rebuilding the ethical foundation of our movement. It requires restoring discipline, strengthening accountability, and ensuring that leadership is driven not by access to resources, but by commitment to service,” he said.

He said the ANC would only regain credibility if voters saw lasting change in how municipalities were run.

“Reclaiming lost ground means making local government work, professionalising municipal administrations, and holding every mayor, every councillor, every municipal manager to measurable standards of performance.

“Decisive action means confronting corruption without fear or favour and ensuring that the corrupt, regardless of their political standing, face the full might of the law,” he said.

“The question before us is not whether Mahlangu’s sacrifice was worth it. The question is whether we are worthy of it,” Mbalula said.

He ended with an appeal for urgency inside the ANC, saying the party’s future would depend on whether it could recover from its own failures and once again deliver meaningfully for ordinary South Africans.

“The tree still stands. It has been battered by storms, some external, many of our own making. Its branches have been weakened by neglect, its roots threatened by the termites of corruption and complacency. But it stands. And it can bear fruit again. Fruit that every South African can taste,” he said.

Mahlangu was executed by the apartheid state on 6 April 1979 after being convicted, under the doctrine of common purpose, for his role in the Goch Street killings in Johannesburg, where Rupert Kessner and Kenneth Wolfendale were killed.

The ANC’s official programme for Monday included a gallows commemoration, a graveside ceremony at Mamelodi West Cemetery and a memorial lecture, with the Mahlangu family leading a symbolic walk retracing the 52 steps associated with his final journey to the gallows.

Earlier in the day, ANC national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri also paid tribute to Mahlangu.

“I salute not only the ANC but all the liberation forces in our country and all South Africans that grew up looking up to the example of Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu,” Bhengu-Motsiri said.

She said Mahlangu’s sacrifice was directly linked to the freedoms enjoyed in democratic South Africa, urging young people to actively engage with the country’s liberation history.

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