Mantashe warns against factionalism
18 September 2017
Cape Town – “The primary enemy of the ANC is the askari-impulse within its leadership,” ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe said on Sunday afternoon in Nyanga.
Mantashe was participating in a mini-rally at the Oscar Mphetha High School ahead of Tuesday’s by-election in Cape Town’s ward 37, in which Luyanda Nyingwa will represent the ANC.
Mantashe was concerned about the “temptation to implode the ANC from within” and said those who want to do that “collude with the same forces that would have liked to see Nelson Mandela die in prison”.
Among the audience of about 200 people, there were a few with the letters NDZ – the moniker for one of the ANC presidential hopefuls Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma – emblazoned on their ANC attire, while there were also a few T-shirts sporting Lindiwe Sisulu's “It’s a must!” campaign slogan. There didn’t seem to be any animosity among those flying different banners.