De Beer: The ANC - just a “carcass” celebrating its 113th birthday

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With the African National Congress (ANC) turning 113 today, United Independent Movement (UIM) President Neil De Beer - who spent 34 years in the party - takes BizNews readers through the fall of the oldest liberation movement in the world: He says Vice President Paul Mashatile being chased out of house in Khayelitsha this week is symbolic of how “broken” the party is. De Beer lists the times major cracks appeared in the party: from the incarceration of two ANC stalwarts, United Democratic Movement (UDM) leader Alan Boesak and MK Commander Tony Yengeni, for fraud; the contestation of the leadership of former president Thabo Mbeki; the Zuma cabal’s “slaughter” of the ANC's principles; the collapse of the Youth League following the departure of Julius Malema; the “fiscal abuse” brought about by the formation of factions; and the party’s failure to transition form a liberation movement into a successful government. The ANC of today, says De Beer, “is ripped apart, it's destroyed, it's sunk, it has rust, it has enemies, it is internally and externally being slaughtered piece by piece. And that's where we are with this carcass. What they're to celebrate..., God only knows.”

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8 Jan 2025 5AM English South Africa Investing · Business News

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