Fix internal issues before 2019 or face losing badly at polls‚ Khoza warns ANC

ANC MP Dr Makhosi Khoza says the ANC has to fix its internal issues before 2019‚ or face losing badly at the polls.

Khoza‚ who wrote a much shared Facebook post on the current state of leadership in the ruling party‚ told TimesLIVE she felt she had to share her thoughts.

"I was concerned at all these theories about why people were marching‚ and to me those people were not necessarily the ones protecting monopoly capital. That march we ought to look at it as the ANC and ask ourselves what are we doing wrong? I mean the South African flag can be flown so high from people from different walks of life and sacrifice everything to participate in this march. I was trying to appeal to my leadership to say’ lead us don't confuse us’‚” she said.

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“I am not at the top in the NEC‚ but I am saying we have leaders giving different messages and we are not sure what is going on. People have issues and instead of saying how we are going to deal with that we label them‚" said Khoza.

In her lengthy post Khoza said the mass action on April 7 was a sign that the ruling party was irrelevant‚ with chronic leadership incapacity.

“I once more choose to see the 7 April 2017 marches across the country as not conspiracies of white monopoly capital but genuine concerns of the majority of marchers. I am a product of history. The marches I witnessed across the country were not different from women’s march against pass laws. They were the same as the March against Mike Gatting’s disregard for International Sanctions against apartheid South Africa‚” Khoza wrote.

• Read in full ANC MP Makhosi Khoza's full broadside against 'politics of patronage'This is Makhosi Khoza's original‚ unedited Facebook post in which she questions indecision in the party‚ and speaks out against the politics of patronage.

She said that she has been victimised in ANC structures for standing for the truth‚ revealing a sense of expectation that this could happen again.

“Politics of patronage has finally claimed the sanity of my ANC leadership. A triumphant story has turned tragic in my life time. The ANC is defining itself out of power when the majority of its people remain trapped in poverty‚ joblessness‚ dependency on state social grants.

“The South African tragedy is an African continent catastrophe. I wish my ANC leaders could see what I see. I wish my ANC leadership could feel what I feel. I wish they can understand that indecision is tantamount to giving DA‚ EFF ... power on a silver platter‚” she wrote on Facebook.

• IN FULL: 'Marches are racism against blacks' - Zuma's speech at Hani wreath-laying ceremonyPresident Jacob Zuma used his position as the keynote speaker at a wreath laying ceremony commemorating the 24th anniversary of the murder of Chris Hani to claim the marches against him on Friday were racist.

Speaking to TimesLIVE‚ Khoza said she considers herself as a revolutionary‚ and would not dump the ANC.

"I am not going to resign‚ all I am saying I remain in the ANC. I am saying leadership here is a challenge and what are we going to do and all I am hearing are just labels. We need to do our own risk assessment and weigh the pros and cons‚ we must be objective. We should be worrying more about our internal politics if we think that people don't understand the value of their vote we are going to be in trouble like how we lost Tshwane‚" said Khoza.

Khoza is the chairperson of the Standing Committee on Public Service and Administration. She is well-known for chairing the adhoc committee on the Public Protector which recommended Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane for the position. Khoza also spoke out strongly against dysfunction at the SABC during Parliament’s hearings on the public broadcaster crisis.

Read Khoza’s full post here.

- TMG Digital/TimesLIVE