Free State ANC chair speaks out against vote buying

ANC chairman in the Free State, Ace Magashule, spoke out about the practice of buying votes at the party's conferences, in an interview.

"People want to be leaders of the organisation, therefore they splash money around. People want to be multimillionaires overnight," he told  The New Age.

"You can see that people no longer want to study. They've got businesses, tenders. People no longer work hard. It's a scramble for power, it's a scramble for resources," said Magashule.

Magashule, who is also premier of the Free State, said this phenomenon had discouraged the youth from going to school as young people looked for easier ways of getting rich quickly.

He said the practice needed to come to an end, and the ANC needed to find a way of dealing with it. Good leaders would not worry about material benefits accrued from the government.

Wits University political analyst Daryl Glaser said Magashule was not the first leader in the ANC, and the tripartite alliance to raise the problem. Congress of SA Trade Unions general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi and Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe had also done so.

Magashule is hoping to be re-elected provincial chairman next month. His challenger is ANC provincial treasurer Mxolisi Dukwana.