Former South African president Thabo Mbeki took advantage of late anti-apartheid activist Andrew Mlangeni’s funeral service on Wednesday to urge the ruling African National Congress (ANC) to “deal with corruption as well as factionalism” among party members.
To achieve this, Mbeki said the ANC should convene a conference to specifically deal with “corruption and factionalism”, which Mlangeni had long been concerned about in the party.
Ending corruption and factionalism in the ANC would honour Mlangeni’s legacy by renewing the people’s confidence in it, Mbeki said.
“He was very concerned about his movement, the ANC — a movement that he and others built over many decades, with regard to the revolution for which he sacrificed his life,” Mbeki said.
The retired leader noted that “there was a loss of confidence in the ANC.”
“It will not be possible to deal with all of these various challenges unless we renew the ANC.
“I think, if we do that, this should be a very good farewell, a very good monument to such an outstanding revolutionary as Andrew Mlangeni,” he said.
He added: “Calls have been made that the ANC should constitute a conference specifically to look at this matter of its renewal. We need that.”
Mlangeni, the last surviving Rivonia Trialist alongside Nelson Mandela and seven other Umkhonto weSizwe soldiers, died last week at a military hospital in Pretoria after complaining of abdominal pains at the age of 95.
Mlangeni’s funeral service, held in Soweto, was followed by a burial service at Roodepoort Cemetery where he was laid to rest next to his wife, in a ceremony overseen by the country’s military.
NM/jn/APA