ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula says the governing party defended former president Jacob Zuma during the fallout over the controversial upgrades to his Nkandla home in KwaZulu-Natal, only for him to turn his back on President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Former president Thabo Mbeki says calls for a single election are counter-revolutionary .
He said the Constitution regarded the local government sphere as particularly important.
He also said the Constitution was not just an elite document .
Former president Thabo Mbeki has slammed as reactionary suggestions by some parties, as well as from within the ANC, that national, provincial and local government elections be held on the same date.
Such a synchronised election would disregard the importance of the local government sphere, as provided for in the Constitution, and would undermine South Africa s constitutional democracy as a whole, Mbeki said in his May newsletter published by the Thabo Mbeki Foundation.
Former president Thabo Mbeki. Photo Masi Losi
POLITICAL NEWS - Former president Thabo Mbeki has slammed as “reactionary” suggestions by some parties, as well as from within the ANC, that national, provincial and local government elections be held on the same date.
Such a “synchronised” election would disregard the importance of the local government sphere, as provided for in the Constitution, and would undermine South Africa’s constitutional democracy as a whole, Mbeki said in his May newsletter published by the Thabo Mbeki Foundation.
He wrote: “This would finally collapse the excellent and special vision for local government which the ANC had, and which in large measure the [constitutional assembly elected in 1994] had accepted.”