Mbalula warns ANC veterans against public criticism

ANC secretary Fikile Mbalula has sent a stern warning to senior party members, including former president Thabo Mbeki, urging them to refrain from publicly criticising the current leadership and to allow the administration space to govern “just as they were allowed to lead”. Mbeki has publicly criticised the ANC over how it handled President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala controversy. He also lambasted the party during former president Jacob Zuma’s leadership. “When they were leading the ANC, they were given space. Madiba was told that he should give comrade Thabo Mbeki a chance to lead; he never went to the press,” Mbalula told journalists during a briefing at the party’s headquarters on Tuesday. “Let’s not do this to the ANC. If Cyril, as president, is failing, call him, give him a chance. Don’t denigrate him in society. Ramaphosa is not infallible; he can be addressed like a child. This is his time and his last dance. “If tomorrow I retire from the ANC and say the ANC is corrupt, between me and [Mmusi] Maimane, who is in the opposition, who is going to be believed?” he said. Mbeki had previously written to Deputy President Paul Mashatile, saying the ANC should never have used its parliamentary majority to block Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala matter from proceeding to an impeachment committee. ANC veterans, including former treasurer-general Matthew Phosa and Mavuso Msimang, have also publicly criticised the party. Mbalula noted that despite the reservations Nelson Mandela had about how the ANC was run under Mbeki and how he handled the HIV/Aids crisis during his tenure, Mandela never publicly criticised the party. Mbalula said the ANC had increasingly found itself defending the party not only against political opponents and enemies but also against “its immediate family”. “The immediate family is the most dangerous because it is the most reasonable voice society is likely to listen to.” He was also among those who cautioned party members who had described Zuma’s tenure a