Thabo Mbeki warns ANC leaders to ‘keep election promises’

Former president Thabo Mbeki has concluded his KwaZulu-Natal election campaign with a stern warning to the ANC to keep its  promises. 

On Sunday Mbeki visited the gravesite of John Langalibalele Dube at the Ohlange Institute in Inanda, Durban, where he said no other organisation has the capacity to solve the country’s problems but the ANC. 

However, as the ANC asks for votes in the May 29 election, Mbeki told party members to “speak the truth and say we know there are wrong things we did. While we ask people to vote for the ANC we also say we are trying to fix things and make sure wrong things don't happen”.

His visit to the province formed part of the party’s attempt to retain its majority vote in KwaZulu-Natal in the face of strong opposition, including from the party led by another former ANC president, Jacob Zuma. 

After a wreath laying ceremony at Dube’s gravesite, Mbeki said the founding president of the South African Native National Congress, which became the ANC in 1923, would want the party to be voted into power again.

“We know what we are supposed to do on May 29. He would know where to put his cross on the three ballot papers. We must do that because to solve the problems in our country we need the ANC. 

“I am therefore saying we carry a message with us in our hearts and in our heads that we are going to do the things that will never disappoint your (Dube's) expectations,” said Mbeki. 

He called on party leaders to prioritise good conduct to dispel the notion that the ANC represents corruption.

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