WATCH: If ANC doesn’t get its house in order‚ it will lose 2019 elections: Pravin Gordhan

Former finance minister Pravin Gordhan has said that if the country’s current state of affairs continue‚ the African National Congress (ANC) will lose the 2019 general elections.

“Many of us are extremely worried that if we continue as we are in the African National Congress‚ we are likely to lose the 2019 elections‚” Gordhan said during an interview with CNN on Thursday.

“But if we‚ like any business or political organisation‚ fail to master the right leadership‚ stick by the right kind of values and do the right thing by the organisation and the people of South Africa‚ then of course we will fail - and one hopes by the end of the end of the year we will be able to find the courage that is required‚ the boldness that is required to steer the ANC to a different direction.

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“The one thing that makes me sad is that we have allowed a situation to develop where a handful of individuals appear to be able to dictate‚ to some extent‚ where this country goes in terms of the use of its economic resource. We’ve allowed greed to become a factor in the way people behave both in the private domain and private domain.”

Gordhan said he hopes that the ANC’s elective conference in December will help the party get back on its feet.

“The opportunity is there for us to go through a process where we implement what we’ve been saying that the ANC needs to renew itself. It needs to find its inner set of values again and sense of mission in terms of serving South Africans.

• WATCH: 'When we keep quiet we become accomplices' Mandela granddaughter joins calls for Zuma to goLate President Nelson Mandela's eldest granddaughter‚ Ndileka Mandela‚ has actively joined the call for President Jacob Zuma to leave office‚ saying the president was found wanting by the highest court in the land. 

Asked to comment on allegations that he was plotting to undermine President Jacob Zuma‚ Gordhan said: “No. The answer is simply no. This was based on some intelligence report‚ which was later found to be false or unbelievable. I am a loyal patriot … That kind of nonsense is precisely that‚ it’s nonsense.

He would not be drawn into commenting on whether he has faith left in Zuma’s leadership.

“There is no one person who leads a big organisation like the ANC. In South Africa we have what we call a culture of a collective leadership‚” Gordhan said.

• The ‘land question’ will be discussed in the coming weeks‚ says ZumaPresident Jacob Zuma has vowed to explore land expropriation without compensation as the ANC gears up towards its elective conference in December. 

Despite his axing as finance minister‚ Gordhan said he remained optimistic that there are people in the private and public sector who are committed to fighting corruption.

“We’ve had a report from an institution called the public protector‚ last year‚ which has mapped out some of the kinds of corruption between certain families and certain state institutions that it would appear is taking place and should be subjected to more thorough investigation by a judicial commission of inquiry.

“Most South Africans would agree that such a commission of inquiry would help clear the air‚ understand the magnitude of what is going on‚ unearth who is fundamentally benefiting from this kind of corruption that is actually taking place and that the law needs to take its course if profoundly wrong things are actually seen to be done‚” he said.