MOTLANTHE: ‘VOTE FOR THE ANC AND ALL YOUR DISPUTES WILL BE ATTENDED TO’

A day after former president Thabo Mbeki joined the campaigning effort, former ANC deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe was out on the hustings in Tshwane on Friday.

Former ANC deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe in Pretoria on Friday, 22 October 2021. Picture: Gauteng ANC/Twitter.

Tshidi Madia 

PRETORIA - For the second time this week, the African National Congress (ANC) has rolled out some of the old guard as it seeks to sway voters in the nation’s economic hub.

A day after former president Thabo Mbeki joined the campaigning effort, former ANC deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe was out on the hustings in Tshwane on Friday.

He’s the man who once said the party needed to lose an election in order to hit rock bottom and reinvent itself.

But he was singing a different tune on the campaign trail on Friday, urging citizens to trust the ANC and saying the party was now renewing itself.

According to Motlanthe, the ANC was on the right path, but there was still room for improvement.

Motlanthe did an election walkabout in Pretoria, acknowledging the party needed to tighten up its councillor selection process and promising to investigate it in the post-election period.

“What we are saying to them is that do vote for the ANC and after the elections, all your disputes will be attended to.”

Motlanthe also seemed to disapprove of the feeling that the party’s community visits seemed last minute.

“The reality is that it is not good enough to interact with the electorate on the eve of elections. Such interactions should happen in between elections.”

He said all disputes must remain in abeyance at least until after the 1 November polls.