/ 18 February 2009

Mantashe: ANC has not lost moral authority

The African National Congress (ANC) has not lost ”moral authority” in South Africa, the party’s general secretary, Gwede Mantashe, said on Wednesday.

”The moral authority of the ANC as an organisation is one which will be tested by elections.

”After April 22, society in South Africa will reaffirm the ANC as having moral authority in South Africa,” he said at a joint press briefing with the Dutch Reformed Church in Johannesburg.

The briefing came after a string of revelations about the party’s former spokesperson, Carl Niehaus, and his financial dealings have emerged recently.

Party president Jacob Zuma is also embroiled in a corruption case surrounding the arms deal.

Mantashe said the ANC was a membership-based organisation and every member was an ”individual”.

He added that the ANC was the ”net effect of what we do as individuals”.

Professor Piet Strauss, the moderator of the general synod of the Dutch Reformed Church, said South Africa needed a ”pleasant disease to spread in society” to end corruption.

”God renewed a person to no longer have the intention to be corrupt …We want individuals to take responsibility [for their actions].

”The responsibility does not rest on government alone but on society as a whole. We need a pleasant disease to spread in society to be solid people,” he said.

The briefing followed a meeting between the church and the ANC, in which they discussed morality in South Africa, violent crimes and rebuilding Zimbabwe. — Sapa