Dr Zweli Mkhize warns ANC against 'money politics' ahead of national elective conference

ANC veteran Dr Zweli Mkhize has warned against the use of money in influencing the outcome of the party's elective conferences, saying this will save the party from total collapse.

The former Health Minister and current Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs parliament portfolio committee chairperson lost to Cyril Ramaphosa in the presidential race in the 2022 elective conference.

The ANC will hold its elective conference next year.

In an exclusive interview on Monday, Mkhize said the meaningful renewal of the party will only be realised when the ANC conducts the election of leaders in a truthful, transparent and honest way. He said a leadership that came top without the use of money would have been truly elected by the people and would be able to command greater respect, warning that 'a leadership of money' would not be taken seriously by the people.

“When the leadership uses money to buy votes it means that under those circumstances you no longer have people that were elected, because there was a manipulation of process through the use of money. In a situation like that you should expect that that leadership will not be able to command respect and would not mobilise people to vote for the party. These issues are important to be corrected because if not, it will not matter how many times you talk about renewal,” said Mkhize.

Furthermore, he said that the leadership must listen and immediately act on the concerns of the people. He said the ANC is in dire straits because of leadership that forgets people after being elected to positions of power and serves their own interests.

“The concerns of ordinary people must find their expression in the way the ANC is being managed. The ANC must stay in touch with the people so that on a day to day basis, what leaders do reflects the concerns of the people on the ground. That is a fundamental issue. When people feel that the party is unable to address the issues of their concerns it means there is a challenge because people will feel there is distance between them and the party leadership.

"When people raise the issues of corruption, they need the ANC to act swiftly and correct that transparently and honestly,” said Mkhize.

He also complained about inconsistencies and arrogance of certain party leaders who failed to attend the issues of the parliamentary committee and deals with the committee in an acceptable way.

He cited an example of community leaders who failed to communicate with people on how financial challenges may be affecting the delivery of services.

He stated that people will have no problem understanding if issues like these are properly explained to them.

Last week Mkhize, the former KwaZulu-Natal ANC chairperson and the Premier, said he has not retired from politics.

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