Mavuso Msimang at the ANC Veterans League 3rd national conference on 28 July 2023 in Boksburg. Picture: Timothy Bernard / African News Agency (ANA)
The ANC has lost one of its trusted veterans, Dr Mavuso Msimang, who on Wednesday, resigned in a long missive that has been shared on social media.
Msimang, who has been critical of the current ANC leadership, said he has decided to better spend his energies elsewhere than continue being part of a party that has been associated with corruption.
He said three decades into the party’s rule, millions of South Africans still languish in poverty, while leaders of the ANC both in governance and within the party continue to live lavishly.
“Yet three decades later, the ANC’s own track-record of corruption is cause for great shame. The corruption we once decried is now part of our movement’s DNA. This has had dire consequences for the most vulnerable members of our society,” he said.
“Consequently, I have come to the realisation that my time and energy would be better spent elsewhere. Even as I painfully sever ties with my once glorious organisation, I shall continue to keep a vigil over any and all matters pertaining to governance in the country,” Dr Msimang said.
Early this year, Dr Msimang was elected as the ANC’s Veterans League’s deputy president during the ANC's Veterans League’s (ANCVL) elective conference in July.
He has served alongside the league’s president, Snuki Zikalala, for little over six months before his sudden resignation on Wednesday.
Msimang, who has been vocal on the decline in ethics within the party, has in the past commented on the Phala Phala saga, calling for President Cyril Ramaphosa to resign from his position as president.
On Sunday, Msimang was also critical of Ramaphosa’s failure to implement the recommendations of the state capture commission while being interviewed on Newzroom Afrika during the 10th anniversary celebration of Nelson Mandela’s passing.
Msimang said the ANC is on it’s way out.
“The ANC is on the verge of losing power. This is not because of Ezulweni Investments, a small company from Newcastle, which got a writ of attachment against the ANC for R150 million... It is because the pollsters have warned, the ANC is significantly falling short of securing outright victory during next year’s elections.
“This dramatic decline in the organisation’s popularity is attributable to widely held perceptions that its members and deployees are corrupt, that the party has a high tolerance threshold for venality,” he said.
Msimang has indicated that the veteran’s league had passed a resolution calling for those accused of corruption to step-aside - which was not implemented by the party.
“To address these societal perceptions, the veteran’s league, in resolution, urged leadership of the organisation to ensure that members who have been accused of criminality by commissions set up to investigate corruption, should not be allowed to continue in office. The veteran’s league specifically recommended that such individuals be considered ineligible for nomination to represent the party in the 2024 national and provincial elections. Unfortunately, the ANC NEC has shown no urgency to deal with the matter,” he said.
The Star
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