POLITICAL REMARKS BY ANC KWAZULU-NATAL CONVENER – CDE JEFF RADEBE ON THE OCCASION OF THE ANC POLITICAL SCHOOL HELD ON THE 27 SEPTEMBER 2025, AT ROYAL HOTEL – DURBAN

Facilitator of this Political School, Cde Kwazi Mshengu who is the Convener of the Political Education Sub Committee,
President Thabo Mbeki
NEC Deployees present
Members of ANC PTT
Comrades in the Alliance
RTT Members
Young Lions of the ANCYL and Women’s League, Veterans and Stalwarts of our movement.

GREETINGS AND WELCOME TO PRESIDENT MBEKI

I would like to greet and welcome President Mbeki to KwaZulu-Natal and Durban on this very significant day of our Political School as a province. The first time President Mbeki came to Durban was in December 1961 on the formation of the African Student Association where he was elected as it’s Secretary. But his parents the liberation struggle Icons, Oom Govan Mbeki and Mama Mbeki made Durban their home from the 1930’s and 1940’s as they embarked on their life journey dedicating their lives to freedom struggle of our people.

President Mbeki is the first person I know, who together with Simon Makana travelled standing on their feet the whole night in a third-class ticket train from Durban to Johannesburg. Discipline and resilience right there!

ANC AND THE REVOLUTION IT LEADS UNDER SIEGE

We meet here today in Durban under no illusion. We are not here for pleasantries or empty rituals. We are gathered here because our movement, the ANC, and the revolution that it leads are under siege. In our last meeting of the Provincial Task Team, I highlighted in my political overview in stark terms that the National Democratic Revolution faces a determined and entrenched counter-revolution. This is not vague danger, it is real – it is visible and unrelenting. It strikes us from the outside and grows at us from within.

The patterns of destruction are everywhere; they tear at the fabric of our nation. Every year, the Auditor-General paints the same grim picture of failing municipalities, wasteful expenditure and hollowing of institutions. The Statistician -General warns us of deepening levels of poverty, stubborn inequality and joblessness that threatens to destroy the dreams of the entire generation.

COUNTER REVOLUTION ENTRENCING IN VARIOUS WAYS

From time to time, we promise renewal and service delivery, but people see more and more the gap between words and their lived reality.

This inconsistency is not just an administrative problem- it is political. It is symptomatic of a counter-revolution that has burrowed deep into our institutions and thrives every time the ANC falters. The counter-revolution is entrenching in various ways. There are right wing forces who have gone so far as visiting the White House to lobby foreign powers against the ANC. There are domestic forces, populists and opportunists who capitalise on our weaknesses to advance their narrow agendas.

There are subjective factors within our ranks- corruption, arrogance, disunity and indiscipline that weakens us from inside. And there is relentless public onslaught which magnifies every error that erases achievements and ensures that in the eyes of the people the ANC is defined only by its failures.

Together, these forces form a powerful front whose goal is simple: to delegitimise the ANC, collapse the state and bury the National Democratic Revolution.

COUNTER REVOLUTION IS NEVER IDLE

Comrades, history reminds us that counter-revolution is never idle. In the dying days of apartheid, military intelligence plotted to fragment the liberation movement and those networks never disappeared.

Here in KwaZulu-Natal, we have a brunt of that more people were killed between the unbanning of the ANC in 1990 and 1994 than the entire period of apartheid rule.

After 1994 the old order regrouped in various ways to slowdown transformation. After Polokwane in 2007, factionalism widened the cracks within our ranks and the enemy slipped deeper inside.

Today, we are at a point where sabotage of state institutions, corruption in our ranks and incoherent messages all combine to make the work of the counter-revolution easier.

WHY KWAZULU – NATAL IS SO CRITICAL

The reality demands that we confront the question- Why Kwazulu-Natal is so critical? Ours is the second largest province by population, second biggest economy in south Africa and a strategic economic hub from the logistics perspective linking Durban to the Southern African hinterland. KwaZulu-Natal is a decisive battleground of South African politics. When Kwazulu-Natal is united and mobilized – the ANC grows stronger nationally. When KwaZulu-Natal is divided, the ANC suffers everywhere.

Our dismal electoral performance of 17% last year is not only a Provincial statistic and embarrassment- it is a national crisis! It tells us that our people no longer trust us as custodians of their hopes and dreams. This is why renewal and rebuilding of the ANC in this province is not optional- it is existential.

We are rebuilding from the ground-up-root and branch- brick by brick. It’s like the situation after the unbanning of the ANC in 1990 where we were starting from scratch – the only difference is that the ANC standing in the eyes of our people was on HIGH STEROIDS and today we are at rock bottom.

Now that all our regional structures are in place and the resurrection of ANC branches have started in earnest- we must go to the ground to our people to regain their trust and confidence again – but this renewal offensive will not come from empty slogans. It requires a culture of truthful discussion – it requires a genuine spirit of criticism, self-criticism and serious introspection.

We must be able to admit openly why our people are disillusioned. We must be honest about corruption in our ranks- about our leaders who chase power without responsibility- about branches reduced to vote buying machines instead of being schools of political education. Without that truth telling- comrades- we will be deceiving ourselves until history passes us by.

We must not allow a vacuum to be created- lest the populists fill it. Let us intervene in theatres of chaos that make service delivery difficult and state institutions being weakened to the point of near collapse. Let us report timeously on the deliberate plans of collapsing the democratic state lest our inaction be construed as being complicit.

This destruction is not confined to the domestic sphere. Once South Africa under the ANC leadership stood as a beacon of hope in Africa and respected throughout the world. We were the trusted and dependable neighbour and brother in SADC, a torchbearer in the continent and trusted voice of the global progressive movement.

We mediated peace in Burundi, stood firm for Palestine, Cuba and Western Sahara and led in the G77 and non-aligned movement. Today, our voice is muted, our moral authority has been eroded, this too is the work of the counter- revolution, aided by our own failures. We must restore that leadership, for Africa still looks to the ANC and the world still needs south Africa to stand for justice.

Comrades, we must confront not only the pollical and institutional dimensions but also the moral one. The ANC was once the moral compass of our society. Our leaders were respected not for wealth but for integrity. Today, that moral authority is slipping. We cannot lead if we cannot lead by example. Renewal therefore requires not only programmes but also moral renaissance, lifestyle audits, humility, accountability and service to our people. As the ANC we must always remember that we do not exist for ourselves but for the people.

The patterns of destruction that we face- from the Auditor General reports statistics SA from failing municipalities to harrowing our state institutions- are visible wounds of a counter-revolution that thrives on our paralysis.

To eject this counter-revolution, we will require not technocratic fixes but a collective political will. We must act decisively and act now- we must rebuild moral authority- we must restore internal discipline- we must reconnect with our people-we must empower our youth and women- not as tokens but as equal leaders- we must defend the National Democratic Revolution as the unifying programme of our revolution and the people. Only then can we reclaim lost ground, reignite hope, and prove to the people that the ANC remains their shield and spear.

Comrades, the enemy has never stopped organizing. Have we stopped organizing? If we do not renew and rebuild, there will be no ANC. If there is no ANC, there will be no National Democratic Revolution, the working class and the poor will stand defenceless before the counter-revolution. Renewal is therefore not a choice, but it is survival.

It is in this spirit that we welcome President Thabo Mbeki to KwaZulu-Natal. He guided our movement and our nation during the time when south Africa commanded respect across the Continent and the world. I remember a time of Zimbabwe conflict with the UK when the USA was being pressured to act against Zimbabwe and President Mugabe, President George Bush referred the matters to President Mbeki as the Points Man. He is not only a former Head of state but also a strategist, a thinker and a cadre of principle. As the Provincial Task Team, we invited him here because renewal without political education is blind and rebuilding without ideological clarity is doomed. His presence reminds us that we must return to discipline, principle and the politics of substance.

It is therefore my profound honour, on behalf of the ANC KwaZulu-Natal provincial Task Team to welcome President Thabo Mbeki who is accompanied by a political Brigade that is commanded by; Cde Max Boqwana, Cde Thami Ntenteni, Cde Dr Percy Mahlathi and Cde Milo Moopeloa. These comrades will make presentations, and President Mbeki will indulge us on his reflections.

END