Reform or suffer in 2019, Netshitenzhe tells ANC

ANC national executive committee member Joel Netshitenzhe has warned that if the party does not self-correct, the legitimacy of the state will decline and voters will punish the party even more in the 2019 general elections.

Addressing a group of more than 500 former Umkhonto weSizwe combatants, Netshitenzhe said the ANC's loss of three metros in the local government elections was a form of protest against state capture and corruption at national level.

"If corruption continues, delivery slows down. The legitimacy of the state goes down. It starts with the leader, then the party, then government and ultimately the state as such. [In] many countries where this happens there were coups. This would not happen in South Africa. Here what would happen is that the ANC will lose elections."

The meeting was called by former senior MK commanders to find solutions to problems facing the ANC. The group included Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe, former ministers Siphiwe Nyanda and Ronnie Kasrils, deputy ministers Bheki Cele and Thabang Makwetla and NEC member Tony Yengeni. Also present were National Council of Provinces chairwoman Thandi Modise.

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Most of those who attended are not active in the Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans' Association, which backs President Jacob Zuma and is led by Deputy Defence Minister Kebby Maphatsoe, who did not attend .

Some of the MK veterans at Nasrec yesterday were part of a delegation of stalwarts who met the ANC national working committee to call for a national consultative conference. The ANC agreed to hold such a conference but as part of the policy conference in mid-2017. But the veterans have rejected this and want the consultative conference much earlier.

Netshitenzhe gave an analysis of the ANC's steep electoral decline, the most recent example being the 2016 local government elections. "That stayaway was not accidental. It was an expression of protest ... about how ward candidates were selected, and secondly due to corruption and state capture on a national level that has sullied the ANC brand."

He said the ANC's internal ructions had hurt electoral support. Those supporters who did not come out to vote had not suffered a "Brexit hangover", because they did not regret their decision. "[Voters say] if you don't rectify [what went wrong], wait for 2019, we will punish you even more."

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Netshitenzhe said research had shown that the loss of Johannesburg was not because former mayor Parks Tau and the ANC leadership in the area had performed poorly but because of "issues elsewhere".

"When our people complain of corruption, it is because it hits them directly. When the money was spent on Nkandla ... without saying who is responsible ... those funds were taken from the Department of Public Works programme to deal with dolomite and inner-city rejuvenation in Johannesburg," he said.

He told veterans that they should brace themselves as the beneficiaries of state capture and corruption would not give up easily.

"From the strange things happening in SARS, to the Hawks, the NPA, Denel and so on, to cabinet statements released by a minister that never was ... all that tells us that the beneficiaries of corruption and state capture will not give up without a fight."

Netshitenzhe warned that the ANC itself could fall victim to capture, whereby "anyone with minor qualifications can stand for elections".

He said the ANC should look at vetting people up for senior positions in the party through an electoral structure.