ANC military veterans say the party has lost the moral high ground, but that it is not too late to fix the malaise.
Former generals and commanders of Umkhonto weSizwe (MK), the ANC’s military wing during apartheid, have organised themselves to help the party after its eight percentage point decline in the local government election.
The MK leaders said on Monday that the problems in the ANC did not start under President Jacob Zuma’s leadership, but they intensified under his watch. They regretted not intervening sooner in the crisis facing the party, but did not believe it was beyond repair.
"We think the ANC — although it is ill, although it needs to be corrected — is not terminally ill and we have a duty to do everything in our power, even if we have left it late to intervene," former MK general and communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda told journalists in Johannesburg on Monday.
"It’s true that the ANC may no longer hold ideological sway; it is true that the ANC may have lost the moral high ground and no longer holds hegemony.... In the past when the ANC spoke many people followed, but today people question it."
The group will hold a general council on December 17 at which it will discuss the challenges facing the ANC and the MK Military Veterans Association, which is led by staunch Zuma supporters, including Deputy Defence Minister Kebby Maphatsoe and Co-operative Governance Minister Des van Rooyen.
All MK veterans are invited to the council, including Zuma.
The ANC’s concerned stalwarts had a follow-up meeting with party leaders at Luthuli House on Monday. "The purpose of the meeting was to further engage on the holding of the national consultative conference," the veterans said.
With Natasha Marrian
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