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Former Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) veterans have called for a special general conference at which the ANC can iron out pressing party matters, including the alleged capture of state institutions by private interests.
Several MK veterans City Press spoke to said the issues were urgent and could not be delayed until the next conference, which is scheduled for December 2017.
The signatories who have sent the memorandum to the office of ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe include General Siphiwe Nyanda, Mavuso Msimang, Welile Nhlapo, Moe Shaik and Dipuo Mvelase.
The call for branches to take action comes after allegations that the controversial Gupta family have influenced President Jacob Zuma in making appointments to key ministerial positions.
Nhlapo said: “Every time we get together – which is normally around funerals – all of these topics come about. We say to each other, what were we fighting for exactly?
“These things are happening around us and we sort of behave like ostriches and bury our heads in the sand. These issues come about and we realise we can’t just sit back. We need to help strengthen this movement that we have been part of for all these years.”
George Rasekgatlha, one of the signatories of the memorandum penned by senior MK generals and handed to Mantashe, said he was worried about the dented image and integrity of the organisation.
He said the issue of state capture was not raised at the ANC’s national general council meeting, where thousands of delegates had gathered, but instead got some attention behind closed doors in the national executive committee in November.
The initial draft of the memo called for Zuma to be recalled.
Explaining the change from first calling for Zuma’s exit to settling for a special conference, the former chief of the SA National Defence Force, Nyanda, said it did not make sense to call for a special conference while also demanding a dignified exit for the president.
“We call for a special conference, comprised of branches of the ANC – they are the ones who get to decide on the leadership. So it was sort of tautologous to say let’s call a national conference but he must step down, because the national conference is the thing that decides that.”
