On the campaign trail for his ruling African National Congress (ANC), former president Thabo Mbeki said he could not honestly tell South Africans to vote for the ANC as led by former president Jacob Zuma in the past due to the party’s taking of “a wrong direction.”
Mbeki recalled how Zuma and his ministers used to tell the world that South Africa had “a good story to tell” while “wrongs” were being committed in the form of state capture and other vices.
But since Zuma’s fall, Mbeki said, there has been light at the end of the country’s tunnel.
“It becomes comfortable for me now to say vote ANC,” Mbeki said during a visit to the Rand Easter Show, a long-running trade exhibition in Johannesburg, to campaign for the Cyril Ramaphosa-led party.
He added: “The organisation (ANC) is now trying to make a detailed commitment. It’s made in specific terms and, in this context, we don’t want to continue veering off course.”
Mbeki said he hoped people would vote for the ruling party in large numbers come May’s national elections for president and parliamentarians.
Mbeki was joined by Gauteng Province Premier David Makhura and ANC head of elections Fikile Mbalula at the Rand Easter Show.
NM/jn/APA