The party says they had to postpone it to accommodate a provincial executive committee Lekgotla the coming weekend.
The ANC in the Mpumalanga province has postponed the much-talked about January 8 statement that was scheduled to be delivered by deputy president DD Mabuza.
Mabuza, who was in Limpopo the past weekend, was going to come to the Mpumalanga province to deliver the January 8 statement marking 106 years since the birth of the ANC in 1912.
The event was set to take place at the Ackerville stadium in eMalahleni on Saturday, 3 February 2018 and posters had already been circulating on social media.
The ANC Mpumalanga event has generated a lot of talk on social networks after it was discovered that the Practical Radical Economic Transformation (PRET) group led by businessman Themba Sgudla was also going to have its own separate event – a ‘Unity’ rally – on the same day as the January 8 statement.
Some people commenting on social media networks have suggested that the reason the ANC is postponing its birthday celebration in the province is because it has been “bullied” by PRET – but then this has been rejected as a lie by both the ANC and PRET.
ANC provincial spokeswoman Sasekani Manzini said the reason the event is postponed is because they want to have a PEC Lekgotla.
“We have postponed it for the PEC Lekgotla at Nutting House Lodge in Mbombela on Saturday and Sunday,” she said over the phone.
“Yes, that’s the only reason we have postponed it,” she said.
Sgudla on the other hand said they will never in their lives “fight or clash with ANC programmes” because the ANC is their home.
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He said they are continuing with their rally at the Lynnville stadium – in the same eMalahleni area – the coming Saturday because the ANC has postponed its event.
“We can’t be treated as if we are in competition with ANC, that’s a misunderstanding. The blood of ANC flows in our veins,” Sgudla told the 013NEWS reporter on Tuesday afternoon.
“PRET is dominated by ANC members and everywhere we are we push the views of the ANC. There’s no way that we can fight the ANC or give the impression that we are bigger or more important than the ANC. We all belong to the ANC, it’s our home. The January 8 statement is postponed and we carry on with our Unity rally,” he said.
He added they have been in constant talks with Mpumalanga acting chairman Mandla Ndlovu ahead of preparation for their rally and there is no bullying of the ANC by them.
“We can’t. The ANC is our home. We respect it too much,” Sgudla said.
(edited by ZK)
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