ANC defectors were free to come back and rejoin the organisation, said ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe on Sunday.
In a speech prepared for delivery at a rally in Thembalethu Stadium in George, Mantashe said the party had a responsibility to embrace former members who wanted to rejoin the ANC.
”We have a responsibility to unite our people. When those who left come back, we will accept them,” he was quoted at saying, adding that reconciliation and unity had always been at the centre of the ANC’s principles and values.
Mantashe also used the event to officially welcome seven new members, including Velile Waxa, Makrostile Doyile, Aubrey Tshengwa and Mbali Sakhele, all of whom had resigned from the ANC to contest by-elections as independent candidates.
He said the fact that most of the defectors were now rejoining the organisation proved there were no divisions within the ruling party.
”What happened within the ANC was that there were differences among members and not divisions,” he said.
He dismissed speculation that opposition parties could govern at least four provinces through coalitions after next month’s elections.
”Suggestions by some analysts that a coalition of opposition parties could dislodge the ANC from power in four provinces is a pipe dream.”
The ruling party was not aiming at governing through a coalition but for an outright victory, even in provinces such as the Western Cape.
”Voters take our manifesto seriously because they know our track record and are certain that we will be in government after the April 22 elections. Ours is not a manifesto of promises but commitments.”
Buthelezi’s warning
Meanwhile, Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi on Sunday warned members against using ethnicity as a criteria for voting in the elections, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported.
Addressing thousands of party supporters at an election rally in Newcastle in northern KwaZulu-Natal, Buthelezi said some IFP members were encouraging other supporters to vote for ANC president Jacob Zuma in the national ballot because he’s a Zulu and vote for the IFP at provincial level.
He said this was promoting confusion and ethnicity within the party, the broadcaster said.
Poster battles
A battle of the boards is brewing as the ANC and the Congress of the People accused each other of damaging election posters on Sunday.
Cope said its posters in Sharpeville, south of Johannesburg, and in Ha-Muntsha and Seshego in Limpopo were burnt, allegedly by ANC supporters.
The posters of its presidential candidate Mvume Dandala erected in Midrand on Friday had also been vandalised, it complained.
At the same time, the ANC in Gauteng alleged that posters in Midrand were found in a bakkie transporting people putting up Cope posters.
Both parties plan to complain to the Independent Electoral Commission.
Defacing posters is against the Electoral Act. – Sapa