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Despite being critical of the current leadership at times, former ANC president Thabo Mbeki has finally answered the call for him to join party officials on the election campaign trail to persuade voters to give it another term in power.
The governing party, which has been in power since 1994, is going into the country's most contested national elections 29 May. Mbeki will kick off his campaign with a walkabout in Soweto on Thursday. His involvement makes him the first former ANC president to campaign for the party after his successor Jacob Zuma opted to head the newly formed uMkhonto we Sizwe Party (MKP).
READ: Battle for ANC premiership in Mpumalanga, Limpopo heats up
Zuma was suspended by the ANC early this year after he publicly endorsed the MKP, which has been battling with the ANC since it was registered with the Independent Electoral Commission of SA.
In an interview with the SABC last month, Mbeki endorsed the ANC saying it was his party of choice and he was still a member. He said he had an obligation to play his part for the party and engage the citizens.
On Wednesday, the ANC confirmed Mbeki’s involvement in the election campaign when it released his itinerary for Thursday. He is scheduled to do a walkabout in White City in Jabavu and the Jabulani mall. After he was defeated at the Polokwane conference in 2008, Mbeki refused to campaign for the party during Zuma’s tenure from 2008 to 2018.
Mbeki recently criticised the ANC and its president, Cyril Ramaphosa, for failing to implement its renewal project.
READ: ANC to deploy uMkhonto weSizwe war veterans to campaign trail, counter MK Party threat in KZN
Last week, Ramaphosa confirmed that most of its former leaders, except Zuma, would start campaigning for the ANC. On his campaign trail in KwaZulu-Natal, he told the media that many former officials had agreed to be deployed in various communities during the election campaign. He said the party’s campaign would include former deputy presidents David Mabuza, Kgalema Motlanthe and Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and Baleka Mbete.
ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said this is the party’s deployment of elderly and former leaders to campaign.
Bhengu-Motsiri said:
