African National Congress (ANC) stalwarts and veterans on Friday urged Dr. Makhosi Khoza to reconsider her resignation from the ruling party, saying “we should not abandon the ANC to those who are involved in State capture and corruption”.

Khoza quit the ruling party on Thursday with a stinging parting shot: “This is no longer the ANC that I know‚ this ANC is alien and corrupt”.

Responding to her resignation, the ANC veterans said: “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”.

The veterans added: “We should not abandon the ANC to those who are involved in State capture and corruption”.

In a lengthy statement, the old guard warned that if honest members of the ANC either quit the party or are silent the legacy that will be remembered will not be the role played in the liberation struggle and establishing a constitutional democracy, 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,” the ANC veterans said.

“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.”