ROAD TO 2024 ELECTIONS
ANC calls on its members to pray for the party ‘to renew itself’
The ANC has pleaded for prayers as it faces ‘enemies’, battles with a rebellious former president and haemorrhaging electoral support which could see it dip below 50% in the forthcoming general election.
On Sunday, the ANC’s highest decision-making body between conferences, the National Executive Committee (NEC), cut its meeting short to allow members to join church congregations in Mbombela, Mpumalanga and “ask for prayers”.
Party national chairperson Gwede Mantashe said the ANC needed prayers because some citizens had begun to doubt it and to “renew and unite itself so that it could continue leading society appropriately”.
Deputy President Paul Mashatile at Alliance Church in Barberton, Mpumalanga, on 7 January 2024. (Photo: Elmond Jiyane)
President Cyril Ramaphosa was not at the meeting because, according to the party’s national spokesperson, Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri, he was attending to urgent “matters” facing the nation.
Read more in Daily Maverick: Elections 2024
Deputy President Paul Mashatile, who stood in for Ramaphosa, told congregants at the Church on the Hill that the party faced challenges and enemies, both internal and external.
Speaking in isiZulu, Mashatile said, “izitha ziningi”, loosely translated to “enemies are many”. Despite this, he said, the party had been undergoing a process of rebuilding and renewal.
Deputy President Paul Mashatile (centre) with police minister Bheki Cele (left) and an ANC Women’s League member at Alliance Church in Barberton, Mpumalanga, on 7 January 2024. (Photo: Elmond Jiyane)
Former president Jacob Zuma could be seen as one of the party’s “enemies” following his decision not to vote or campaign for it and instead to support the newly formed uMkhonto Wesizwe party.
Read more in Daily Maverick: ANC KZN condemns Zuma’s ‘gross ill-discipline’ for support of new party
The party was announced three weeks ago. It has since launched in three provinces, including Mpumalanga, where hundreds of people turned out to support it this weekend.
This is the province where the ANC will celebrate its 112th birthday this week.
Speaking during uMkhonto Wesizwe’s election campaign on Saturday, in Kempville Stadium in Mkhondo, an ANC stronghold, Zuma said the ANC no longer served the needs of South Africans, and its current leaders had tainted the image of the party and served their own needs.
The new party has not established structures and will do so only after the elections.
“I am the one who said we will not choose structures; we will only have structures for the interim because we are building a healthy organisation here. We don’t want a party where people kill each other for positions; we won’t allow that,” Zuma told supporters in Mpumalanga.
Deputy President Paul Mashatile (left) with Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Ronald Lamola and Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi at Alliance Church in Barberton, Mpumalanga, on 7 January 2024. (Photo: Elmond Jiyane)
At the Church on the Hill, Mantashe urged ANC supporters not to be alarmed by Zuma’s conduct: “It’s common in Africa for former presidents to lead rebel movements.”
Danger
Political analyst William Gumede said uMkhonto Wesizwe’s danger to the ANC was that it could help bring down the party’s support in KwaZulu-Natal to around 40% and to below 50% nationally.
“It is also likely to take votes from the EFF. Both parties — along with Ace Magashule’s African Congress for Transformation (ACT) — are fishing in the same ANC voter pond,” he wrote in an article in the Sunday Times this week.
Mashatile, however, believes the party will stand firm after the elections. He would not be drawn into detailing how the party would deal with Zuma. The former president has said he remained an ANC member despite campaigning for another party.
“Our house is still standing 112 years old because it is built on a strong foundation. Like any family, you have members who behave in a particular way. Others will want to break windows, others break the doors but there are those of us who are rebuilding, renewing, and this house will never fall,” Mashatile said.
Polls released by the Social Research Foundation, The Brenthurst Foundation and Ipsos in October 2023 put ANC support across SA at 43-45%.
Read more in Daily Maverick: Three polls show ANC election support is falling off a cliff
A month ago, the ANC was rocked by the resignation of its stalwart Mavuso Msimang, who said the party had been racked by endemic corruption, with devastating consequences on the governance of SA and the lives of poor people.
The party later announced that Msimang had rescinded his resignation after it agreed to exclude from this year’s parliamentary lists members implicated in State Capture who had not been cleared by the Integrity Commission.
Read more in Daily Maverick: Mavuso Msimang backtracks on ANC resignation
“We have lived in this house, the ANC, for many years and it will continue to stand despite some of the challenges,” Mashatile said. “And some of the challenges come from the outside. There are many who want to see this house falling, but we are here to protect it.” DM
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How absolutely absurd.
Prayer will not fix their incompetence and thievery. God will not fix their troubles. They are as delusional as they ate incompetent. What a copout.
Prayers??????
Our churches have collectively FAILED in NOT calling its flock (far bigger than the unions btw) to vote as their religion would require them to.
Quo Vadis SACC
Hahaha! That’s just about the one and only thing that will help!
Pray Really! . The rot is so deep , even God cannot help. The first ” renewal process ” started in Mbeki’s second term .
The ANC has been renewing since Mbeki, indeed. Like all projects that the ANC touches, this one also turned into manure. It is strange to see people like Cele, Mokanyane, Lesufi and Mashitile supporting prayers for renewal, whilst they should know that renewal in faith comes only from redemption and that comes only from admitting wrongdoing.
The ANC meant prey
🤣🤣🤣
Exactly. 😁 They are a classic criminal syndicate.
When a supposedly secular political party turns to a church and ‘prayers’ to address its hopelessly corrupt leadership (sic) .. it makes me think of Trump leading a ‘march’ to the steps in front of a church … waiving a bible in one hand – a document he has never read and much less understood ! Even God must be alarmed by such sudden devotion surely ? Does it not teeter on the brink of idolatry ?
So now our feckless cadres in all their designer finery are God-botherers. Hilarious! Laden camels spring to mind.
Is it not Zuma who said,the ANC will rule till JESUS comes back?
Shameless electioneering by the morally corrupt ANC. Churches should grow a spine and make non partisan calls for honest politicians, and also refuse to let their pulpits be used by any sort of political party.
The further the church stays away from the state and vice versa the better for everyone.
Prayers you say, perhaps you should have prayed in Parliament where you made all these stupid laws.
Fall ANC, fall. You caused more damage the past 30 years than anyone else before you.
Voertsek ANC, VOERTSEK
This should prompt us to ask : ” What are we really seeing, here?” There’s not much doubt that a significant number will Join Zuma in KZN, and if there really is massive voter apathy combined with frustration in the rest of the country, the next election could be an interesting surprise. IF only the opposition had the ability to connect with the population, which sadly it does not.
The ANC government has cursed Israel by bringing a false accusation of genocide against them in the International Court of Justice. God said “If anyone curses Israel I will curse them”. So we should expect our nation to be cursed by God himself.
Is this the same God that seems to have no qualms about the deaths of thousands of Palestinians. Or possibly “Thou shalt not kill” really means thou shalt not kill my worshipers but everyone else is fair game
Prayers will NOT help. It is more likely that the devil will take them to the hottest spot in hell for the since they have committed. Useless, deceitful, arrogant and corrupt are just a few of the characteristics these morons are “blessed” with. It is time to get rid of them.
As my wife mentioned this morning that the reason we have no load shedding this week is that they can party away all week!
ANC should have seen this coming decades ago at Polokwane conference but they continued with their intentions..These are the consequences of selecting weak and greedy leaders who now pointing fingers to each other including former and seating President.
If there were an award for the most ABSURD political party on the planet, these ANC “leaders” would win uncontested. It is a tragic comedy beyond human comprehension with a daily episode of gut wrenching absurdity. Ramasofa attending to “urgent national matters”. Wow! As he has done for the last decade….where is the evidence of actually getting anything done!!!
Now just a cotton pickin minute here. The ANC are professed communists. Hence their supporters are communists.
Communists since Karl Marx are atheists. So, who is going to listen to the morons praying 🤡
Is this not the selfsame Makonyane who received gratification from Bosasa and who the Zondo Commission recommended be prosecuted? As long as there are no consequences for bad behaviour the country will continue its downward slide. Also present are Cele who was so bad that even Jacob Zuma was forced to drop him as well as a smiling Don of Alex who sat in his blue light brigade BM while his goons beat up 2 civilians in broad daylight.
It always amazes me that the corrupt never see the irony in their religion. It’s like the Guptas who, after having stolen billions and literally taken food out of children’s mouths, went on a religious pilgrimage to Meca. Is it to thank God for their bounty or are they praying not to get caught?
The Guptas are muslim??
no hindu
The answer is simple. Not prayers, stop stealing.
Can a leopard change it’s spots?
Ja, well, no, fine.
They are just trying to counter Zuma’s pitch to the churches.
Sometimes it just hurts to be right. Brutally so too.
Making my decision to walk away from the ANC in 2007 was based on these prescripts: “Electing a palpably morally and ethically compromised individual to lead the party calls to question your own standards of morality that you apply in your day-to-day life and activities.”
“The results of this decision will become clear within the next five years and will snowball thereafter into an avalanche that will leave all of our society licking its wounds as a consequence. The Band-Aids required to dress those wounds will need to be of industrial grade and be available in large numbers for many years.” That was my statement.
Unfortunately I was right…
The party asking for God’s help, well it means they’ve learnt their lessons, and yes, unfortunately we as the SA society are licking our wounds. Somehow, I get the feeling that God is chilling in the sunshine sipping on a cold one, ticking off His to-do list while these clowns are clamouring for attention. I don’t think they even appear as a scratch item on that list…
You did the right thing… it’s such a pity the other indoctrinated flock, I am laughing at this word now, didn’t see what you saw. It’s a long way back now if we even can
Really?? Half the ANC don’t even believe in God and now you want to pray to him for help??? What a freaking joke!
Interesting article.
Just follow the TEN COMMANDMENTS…
Can they count to 10?
During the November 2013 NUM gathering at Carletonville, Gwede Mantashe likened the ANC, SACP, COSATU alliance to the Triune godhead, the Father, the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ… and lauded Nelson Mandela as equal to Moses – indeed God laughs, see Psalm 2, “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.”…
House should be condemned.
A Chairman/President with a backbone might be a good start.
The end is nigh… the biggest and quickest fall is when once colleagues, partners, friends or comrades if you will turn on one another as is happening before our eyes… the greed and access to the spoils is ending as the country has run out of money and those implicated are being called out… it couldn’t have come sooner
When all else fails….and my word it has failed….prey!!
Just a question. To whom are the ANC to pray…..the forefathers, or which of the many gods?? For many people all over the world all gods are the construct of the human mind. Whatever one believes or not, I know for sure that no prayer will have an effect of saving the ANC. If clensing is not from within the ANC as a honost and ttruthfull effort, nothing will happen and the masses who eventually realise the damage the ANC has inflicted on our beatiful country, will decide their fate.
Let me suggest something else to the ANC …. Grip your knees, put your head between your legs, and kiss your ass goodbye
The ANC must not continue to liar to us by pretending that now they are becoming christians. They have so much sin I dont think God is ready to forgive them. This is the end of the road for them.
And now “Pray” from a commie party he he he !!Who they going to pray too
HOW IS IT POSSIBLE FOR THE VETTING TO ALLOW THE ‘Pamela Khumalo’ (money spam.+27 64 936 1416) POST TO GET THROUGH – DM IS DISCREDITING ITSELF, sham!!!
I agree. Keep up allowing spam and I will cancel my subscription.
First pray for those corrupt ministers to be removed immediately then pray for the ANC to fall. We had enough…we are disadvantaged and deprived a better life for all. Year in and out…the country is sliding one way while those SHAMELESS filled their pockets without any accountability. How long must we stil endure this situation. They proved for 30 years to be incompetent. MADIBA SAID IF THEY ARE CORRUPT THEN THE ANC MUST FALL…THINK WITH YOUR BRAIN…NOT YOUR HEART.
If there is a God, what does (s)he think when thieves pray to him to keep on stealing?
Dear Lord our God,
I pray to you to heal our country South Africa.
Please give us an honest, competent and democratic government that takes care of the country, people and economy so that our country can recover from years of incompetence, corruption and blatant stupidity. Let the people of this wonderful country work together and live together so that we can once again stand as a proud and successful nation.
Amen
Possible response from God -“I gave you free will and you have already used it to vote in the government you deserve”
This is a terrorist regime that has blood on their hands and filled with racism and is in for revenge to allow killings and slaughtering of minority groups. Like CR said on a question by Action Society Ian Cameron what about farm killings , then the Terrorist Leader answered “what about the killing of our people under Apartheid”. De Klerk mislead the country and the world. The ANC never ever handed in any weapons in under De Klerk on his attempt with the amnesty period for handing in of weapons , but instead used them to kill Zulus in the Ntuli House massacre. Even JZ song on a ANC rally to take up the arms again and chase the white in the sea. The ANC god is Satan himself, not the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Just like the late Desmond Tutu said in a speech that the ANC is a disgrace in his eyes and just like we prayed the Apartheid regime out, they will pray the ANC out of power. I pray them out in the Name Of Jesus Christ they will fall, your 112 years of terrorism will come to an end soon.
Agreed, less people actually lost their lives under the entirety of Apartheid then in a week now….. I do not condone the wrongdoings, but the country actually thrived.
Whilst the ANC may “pray to God”, in the past 28 years their actions have not been in accordance with the God of mainstream religions, but to the “god” of avarice, ego and blatant dishonesty.
That this country is plagued by poorly educated people, high unemployment, poor service delivery and a blatant disregard for the poorest in our society, confirms the true god to whom the ANC pledges their “faith”.
May they all rot in hell!
The solution is so simple, and doesn’t need divine intervention: JUST DO A HALF DECENT JOB AND STOP STEALING. Honestly, that’s it! And how is that achieved? Simply by deciding to do it. Only the ANC would need “prayers” to fix something so simple, it’s like they can’t even imagine what a clean and capable government entails. Shame on the ANC!
But the anc, as avowed communists, don’t believe in any god or deity higher than man…ie themselves…..so who are they praying to?
You can maar stay in your crumbling house and keep praying at the god of money.
What God do they have that thinks that they must get special treatment ,they take the Lords name in vain.
You know the writing is on the wall when they start praying and dancing. It reminds me of that office printer add (I think it was Xerox) many years ago, when two presenters in a meeting are asked for their presentation and after an awkward moment start dancing, as their presentation pack was stuck in an old old broken printer.
This is funny but only when one has the luxury of viewing it from a great distance. Watching it close up would be even more distressing if it weren’t for the fact that my only child will be GTFO in the not too distant future. Thanks SA electorate, y’all did this to us.
Oh Lord…
Renewal?
Is this a library book? Methinks it’s way overdue.
Can a leopard change its’ spots? Renewal perhaps until after the elections?
My prayer is for the demise of the ANC…
I wonder, whom will they pray too. The cANCer god, maybe.
Didn’t somebody once upon a time said that the ANC will rule until J**us come?
This ship is going down!
The relics on board sold the lifeboats for personal gain and gorged on the life-vests.
Parties and Western luxury items were preferred over swimming investing in swimming lessons.
One can only hope that the sharks will feast on these gangsters, yeah!
To whom are these gangsters praying too?
The devil perhaps?
This being the case, pray on.
And these people have been making decisions on our future, scary!
Nomvula Mokonyane with R50,000.00 per month paid to her in cash by the Watson brothers (did she ever pay it back?) and an Aston Martin worth 6 m under a tarp in her garage she will be preying on all of us.