ANC: We've made mistakes
2007-11-19 08:28
Port Elizabeth - The ANC has used the final official meeting of the current national leadership over the past weekend for some severe introspection, and leaders admitted to each other that they failed in certain respects.
An ANC leader who attended the meeting in Johannesburg told Die Burger on Sunday that the ANC wanted to ensure that when the reins were handed over to the new National Executive Committee (NEC) in less than a month's time, the new leaders would not repeat these mistakes.
"Our current problems have been with us for the past two years."
"It is a pity that the National Executive Committee could not sort out these problems, whether they came from the branches or wherever," he said.
Much unhappiness
The problems had to do with the local government elections, and many people were still unhappy that they had not appeared on the (ANC's) election lists.
"The 2006 elections had a major impact on the organisation, because questions of deployment were not properly handled, be it at national provincial or local level," he said.
He said there had also been a discussion of reports on Sunday morning, that ANC Chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota had launched an attack on the Deputy President of the ANC Jacob Zuma on Saturday.
"Everyone was surprised when they saw the story, because it wasn't true, " he said.
"The meeting lasted until about 18:45 on Saturday, and Lekota was the last speaker there.
Zuma would have followed Lekota, but because it was getting late, Zuma was only able to give his address on Sunday morning.
President Thabo Mbeki did not attend Sunday's meeting, because he had to be at the G20 meeting in the Western Cape.
Zuma did not respond on Sunday morning to Lekota's address, but he made a "general contribution" to the meeting.
It was said at the meeting that there was nothing wrong with ANC leaders competing with each other.
The meeting ended before 12:00 on Sunday.
Zuma was about five hours late for the ANC Youth League's 63rd anniversary in Port Elizabeth, where he was the main speaker.
Responding to a reporter from Die Burger who asked what he had said at the Port Elizabeth meeting, he smiled and countered, "What? Who told you that I spoke?