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As stalwarts, we note the decision of Comrade. Makhosi Khoza to resign from the ANC. She has shown a principled position above self interest in the way she has approached her responsibilities within Parliament. However, we believe that her decision, whilst understandable, was not the correct one and she should carefully reconsider her decision.

However, Khoza joins many thousand ANC members who have either resigned from the ANC, or more often let their membership lapse because they believe they can no longer be associated with the unacceptable behaviour of a leadership that places self-enrichment above the historical mission, policies and practices of the ANC.

To leave an organisation that many individuals have given their life to and lost comrades and friends in the struggle against apartheid and working to build a constitutional democracy is difficult. But given the depth of the crisis within the ANC and its negative impact of the economy and well-being of the majority of our citizens, leaving the ANC would at first glance appears rational.

There are those who say that the ANC will be no more after the 2019 elections, and the main reason this is becoming a common refrain is because of failure of the ANC to confront all that is presently wrong with our movement.

If honest members of the ANC either leave or are silent the legacy that will be remembered will not be the role played in the liberation struggle, our constitutional democracy and the development of a social welfare system, but the stench of corruption. We believe all honest members should stay and join together with those who want to see an end to this nightmare that has engulfed our country. We also believe that those who have let their membership lapse should reinstate their membership.

We cannot allow an ever-increasing vacuum to be created, to be only filled by those who want to use and abuse their membership, to steal the future of our country from our children and youth. We must re-find our collective voices that will again mobilise a country sickened by what they see.

We defeated apartheid and created a constitutional democracy. We also know we did not react quickly enough to the early signs of state capture. But no one can say it is too late to be confronted, because every day we do nothing, is one day too many.  As stalwarts, we have consistently argued that the ANC and the alliance must participate in a National Consultative Conference which can openly and honestly confront the crisis that our country and the ANC face.

The National Consultative Conference will potentially be an important part of helping to restore the legitimacy of the ANC which was clearly seen in the support of our citizens in the struggle against apartheid; the introduction of our constitutional democracy and the first democratic elections.

It will also show that the overwhelming majority of past and present members of the ANC remain committed to the values, practices and the highest ethical standards which were recognised internationally as such and characterised our development as a political party

Issued by ANC Stalwarts and Veterans