JOHANNESBURG - Political economist Moeletsi Mbeki has slammed President Cyril Ramaphosa for turning a deaf ear to the public's voice.
He believes that the president and the ANC will not survive for long if they do not stop making unpopular decisions.
Mbeki was reacting to Ramaphosa's address during the ANC's 5th National General Council (NGC) in Boksburg.
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The party is meeting for an NGC for the first time since 2015. The gathering comes as the party's vote share of the national vote is on a decline.
Mbeki says much of what Ramaphosa touched on during his opening address was reporting on the 'good things' the ANC has done when it was still in power.
But voters' assessment of the ANC's achievement was different from that of the president, he says.
Mbeki says this points to the party being 'out of touch' with reality.
“I do not think they fully understand what has been happening to the ANC since 2009. The ANC reached its peak of popularity among voters in 2004, but it started declining ever since. But the ANC did not see nor understand what this decline was telling them.”
Mbeki says there is a huge euphoria in the ANC, that at last "they have captured the prize" and are unable to listen, a trait that saw its downfall during the 2024 general elections.
During his address, Ramaphosa turned to a more serious political overview, warning that the party must urgently rebuild itself if it hopes to regain public trust.
Ramaphosa reminded delegates that this year marks 70 years since the Freedom Charter, the document that promised a non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous South Africa.
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He said the ANC still has the responsibility to make that vision a reality.
But Mbeki is of a different view.
“They think they can go back to the Freedom Charter of 20 years ago. That is how out of touch with reality they are. The South Africa of 70 years ago was totally different from the South Africa of today.”
He says the ANC keeps talking about “renewal”, but nothing about the party's approach has changed.
He argues that the party continues to enforce the same policies voters have rejected - the very policies he believes pushed the ANC out of national power.
“One of the last big speeches President Ramaphosa and Deputy President Paul Mashatile made was about the old policy of black economic empowerment. There is nothing new about it. So what renewal is he putting on the table?”
With the country slowly preparing for the local elections next year, Mbeki doubts the ANC can make any meaningful recovery before then.