Learn from Polokwane - Mantashe
2012-12-16 19:28
Bloemfontein - The ANC had to learn from problems that emerged from its last national conference in Polokwane in 2007, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe said on Sunday.
"After Polokwane, we were divided. We had both internal and external challenges," he told delegates at the ANC's national conference in Mangaung.
"We came out of all those challenges intact and strong."
He said the national executive committee had to deal with charges laid against the "new" president [Jacob Zuma], immediately after Polokwane.
"We had to deal with the new situation with the president of the ANC not being the president of the country," he said.
He said the recall of former president Thabo Mbeki was a "point of learning."
He said the mass resignation by ministers and deputy ministers and the creation of the ANC breakaway party, the Congress of the People, marked the climax of the "crisis".
He said "unruly behaviour" of members in the run-up to Polokwane had become a sub-culture of the ANC.
- SAPA
