Greed among members is ripping ANC apart, says Mbalula

ANC secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula, says greed among its members was ripping the party apart.

Mbalula was addressing ANC members on Friday during the Oliver Tambo memorial lecture in Mzamba.

He said there were people in the party who “elevate jealousy to principle and elevate pettiness to principle, talking about other comrades’ names whenever they meet”.

Mbalula said some in the party pocket money meant for services for the people.

“There are many greedy people who are hired by government. People steal and when they are arrested, it’s said it’s the ANC. They must arrest all the thieves.

“When a person is arrested for stealing, they must be on their own. You mustn’t go singing songs that ‘lento uyenzayo ayilunganga (what you are doing is not right)’ because you know what that person was doing.

“The ANC never sent people to steal. We send people to work for the work and not to dip their hands in the tills and steal people’s money. Theft is taking money away from people of SA. It’s something we should not tolerate. It’s one of the things Oliver Tambo said we should be vigilant about,” Mbalula said

Tambo, born in Nkantolo in Mbizana, was the ANC president from 1967 to 1991

Mbalula said Tambo also warned of wedge-drivers.

“There are people among us wearing our T-shirts and singing the struggle songs and speak the politics we speak, but their actions say something else. Our party today is infiltrated… you must guard the actions of people.

“When tenders become temptations and deployment to public office becomes self-enrichment, we betray both the living and those whose legacy we are entrusted to preserve.

“As we pay tribute to this gallant revolutionary, we must rededicate ourselves to the ideals president O R and his generation stood for,” he said.

The former ANC Youth League president said the party is facing an existential crisis, adding that unity is a “precondition to rebuild and renew our organisation”.

Daily Dispatch