Thabo Mbkei has lashed out at President Cyril Ramaphosa. The memorial service of the late Jessie Duarte has made headlines after former Mbeki spoke out against Cyril Ramaphosa.

Mbeki took to the podium and spoke about how ANC members and South Africans need to continue the legacy of Deputy Secretary-General, Duarte who passed away on Sunday 17 July 2022.

“To respect Duarte’s legacy, we must embark on practical actions, not slogans.” Thabo Mbeki

Mbeki reflected on the work the ANC has been talking about doing over the years to renew the party: “It’s a very, very simple and straightforward matter, but four-and-a-half years later, we still have this matter on our agenda for the upcoming policy conference.”

That is one of the things that we must address. It’s a challenging task, a challenging job because even in the 49th conference in December 1994, comrades at the conference were saying we have begun to inherit people in the ANC who are not ANC. People who are coming into the organisation in order to use it as a stepladder to positions of state power in order to accumulate worth for themselves.

But in his most scathing attack on President Ramaphosa, Mbeki said: “Comrade President Cyril Ramaphosa when he delivered the State of the Nation Address in February said in 100 days there must be an agreed upon social compact to address these matters, nothing has happened. To honour the legacy of comrade Jessie, we have got to do something about that.”

Mbeki also criticised the ANC for failing South Africans at municipal level. He said: “We must address local government. The reports of the Auditor-General always come out and point a finger at councils that are particularly led by the ANC. That level of government is in direct contact with the majority of the people, and it is failing them so much; what message are we saying to the masses?”