Mantashe terse after release of Chikane's views

Published Aug 11, 2016

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JOHANNESBURG: ANC veteran Frank Chikane can walk into Luthuli House and express himself whenever he wants to.

This was the terse response by ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe yesterday to Chikane’s public release of a document he wrote to the party last year warning the party of its impending demise.

Mantashe, who said he did not want to talk to Chikane via the media, was speaking ahead of the party's four-day special national executive committee meeting at the Saint George's Hotel in Irene, Pretoria, yesterday.

Chikane released the document titled “The soul of the ANC under attack”, which he had sent to Luthuli House in September last year, prophetically warning of the party possibly losing some of the metros and major cities.

“For the ANC to remain a winning ANC, it must keep the tradition of being self-critical. Failure to do so will result in its demise as leader of society,” Chikane wrote.

He said it was clear the greatest threat to the soul of the ANC was from its own members and leaders who were being corrupted and transformed into self-serving agents.

“So what has happened is that even the cadres of the movement you thought wouldn't become corruptible, once in power become corruptible.”

Chikane further wrote that he had tried his best to keep his submission and journey to Luthuli House from the media to ensure that the discussion was undertaken within the structures of the ANC. But he said the media got wind of this after he addressed the Johannesburg Veteran's League in June last year.

In November last year, Mantashe wrote a stinging opinion piece to a business newspaper, taking issue with former leaders who criticised the ANC. He wrote that former leaders “want to warm their tea by seeking celebrity through criticism of those in office and the policies they themselves once espoused”.

“Having suddenly ‘found their voice’ after happily playing status quo politics while in power, the 'former insider' status of these former leaders lends them an extra appeal in the media.”

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