We should not go around asking people to come back to ANC - Mantashe

The calls made by some African National Congress (ANC) leaders for Julius Malema to return to the ruling party concerns the newly appointed Mineral Resources minister Gwede Mantashe.

Mantashe, who is also the ANC’s chairperson, is not pleased with remarks made by the party’s President Cyril Ramaphosa and Deputy President David Mabuza calling for the EFF leader to go back to the ANC.

Mabuza said he would take it upon himself to convince Malema to reconsider going back to the ANC while  Ramaphosa said that Malema was “still ANC down deep in his heart”.

Mantashe told eNCA that if Malema wants to go back to the ANC he should do so at his own accord.

“My own view is that if Julius wants to come to the ANC he must come to the ANC. I don’t think we should go out there inviting him,” said Mantashe.

He said sending out such an invite in public is a recipe for disaster because it gives whoever is invited an opportunity to decline publicly.

“I think we should not go about asking people to come back. Because when you do that you give them an opportunity to reject that offer though they want it deep down in their heart. And my own view is that, let’s not do it all the time,” said Mantashe.

The EFF’s national chairperson Dali Mpofu has since said that they will not return to the ANC.

“There’s no chance in hell that we’ll go back to the ANC,” Mpofu told the SABC.