Mbalula blames Zuma for EFF growth: 'In his hands, the EFF soared from zero to 10%' | City Press

05 Jan

Yamkeleka Manjeya

Fikile Mbalula addressed a media briefing in Mbombela and said party would end loadshedding.

Fikile Mbalula/X

ANC secretary-general (SG) Fikile Mbalula on Friday expressed how the ANC had suffered from former Jacob Zuma's presidential shortcomings, allowing for the growth of the opposition party, the EFF.

He was addressing the media ahead of the ANC's 112th birthday celebration on 13 January.

He said:

Zuma has had his weaknesses. The ANC has suffered at his hands. With EFF rising from 0 to 10% during his leadership because of Nkandla and state capture. And now, the EFF's numbers grew.

This after Zuma’s recent announcement that he would not campaign or vote for the ANC in this year's elections, but would instead support the newly formed Umkhonto we Sizwe.

Mbalula said:

The NEC has directed that we will reflect on President Zuma and the statements he has made, and his endeavours to launch the MK party, which has been registered as a political party. We will deal with that matter at length and in depth at the right moment.

The governing party's media briefing came after the EFF announced its own briefing in Durban, setting the stage for a clash of press conferences.

The battle intensified when Mbalula rescheduled the ANC's briefing from noon to 1pm, directly coinciding with the long-planned EFF event featuring party leader Julius Malema.

Today, Friday 05 January 2024, ANC Secretary General Comrade Fikile Mbalula conducted a site visit and briefed the media on the state of readiness ahead of the #ANC112 Anniversary Rally and January 8th Statement and updated the media on the deliberations of the ANC NEC Meeting,… pic.twitter.com/ZLmuvB8zp2
— African National Congress (@MYANC) January 5, 2024

While South Africans continue to contend with ongoing power outages, Mbalula said he was confident in the party's efforts to end load shedding.

Although he acknowledged the missed December target he had announced to bring load shedding to an end, Mbalula emphasised "increased" powers for Eskom Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa to focus on anti-load shedding measures.

He said:

We have said as the ANC that we want the load shedding done, and we envisaged that by December that it would be the case but, in this instance, we are encouraged by the efforts of the workers at Eskom and that we have employed Dan Morokane as the CEO to strengthen the management.

READ: Yonela Diko | Ugilikanqo is gone: Is the ANC finally free of the Zuma albatross?

In November last year, Mbalula was adamant that load shedding would be over by December and that South Africa's economy was recovering.

He subsequently received public backlash following the implementation of stage 2 and 3 load shedding this month.

READ: Back from the festive holidays? So is load shedding

Ahead of the upcoming elections, as well as the party's campaigning, Mbalula said:

We know that load shedding has been used and is still going to be used in the campaign against the ANC government, but in this case, it is against the background that it is in our interest not only for an election but also for South Africa as a whole that we deal with this matter, not for political point scoring and plastering up cracks but to deal with it holistically and permanently.

“There are a lot of things that are being said every day, some which we believe are distortion and are far from the truth but we are not to respond in snippets,” said Mbalula.

READ: ANC vs MK: Zuma calls out ANC for 'disregarding voters'

He firmly denied the existence of a "party called MK" created by someone aspiring to be the party's saviour or "Messiah." He reiterated that the ANC, as the governing party, resolved its internal issues within its structures.

READ: Former ANC mayor in Mpumalanga Vusi Motha follows Zuma, joins MK party

The SG expressed the belief that South Africans would vote for the ANC, not because of its conflicts with Zuma, but because the ANC has "fought load shedding, state capture and corruption, and has created jobs."

He said:

South Africans do not want us to come to Mbombela Stadium to celebrate, and the statement is Jacob Zuma, they are not interested in that. He has had his time as president. He can go look at his own track record and praise himself.

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