'Nothing new' in new ANC leadership

2012-12-20 12:04

Johannesburg - The addition of new leaders to the ANC top six won't make any difference to the party's fortunes, commentator Moeletsi Mbeki told The Star newspaper on Thursday.

Mbeki said the addition of Cyril Ramaphosa as deputy president and Zweli Mkhize as treasurer general would not help the ANC improve its performance, either with service delivery and protests, or with voters.

"There is no difference between the previous and the new. Nothing new. Ramaphosa and Mkhize have always been there," Mbeki told the paper.

He noted that Ramaphosa has been an active member of the ANC national executive committee and it was a mistake to treat him as "an unknown quantity".

"Under the leadership of Zuma, the killing of innocent people, as in Marikana, the killing of innocent demonstrators, as in Andries Tatane, and the poor administration, such as the non-delivery of textbooks, would continue. These are the same people," Mbeki said.

He argued that changes to the leadership would also not improve the ANC's electoral results as voters were being more "disgruntled and disillusioned".

"The ANC's voting popularity has been declining since Zuma took over because of the corruption, incompetence and ineptitude," Mbeki said.

- SAPA