Thabo Mbeki latest news on elections:

Heavyweights on the ground as former President Thabo Mbeki is expected to lead the African National Congress (ANC)’s campaign trail in Soweto, Gauteng ahead of the 2024 national and provincial Despite being critical of the current leadership at times, former ANC president Thabo Mbeki has finally answered the call for him to join party officials on the election campaign trail to persuade voters to give it another term in power.elections.

The governing party, which has been in power since 1994, is going into the country’s most contested national elections 29 May. Mbeki will kick off his campaign with a walkabout in Soweto on Thursday. His involvement makes him the first former ANC president to campaign for the party after his successor Jacob Zuma opted to head the newly formed uMkhonto we Sizwe Party (MKP).

Zuma was suspended by the ANC early this year after he publicly endorsed the MKP, which has been battling with the ANC since it was registered with the Independent Electoral Commission of SA. 

In an interview with the SABC last month, Mbeki endorsed the ANC saying it was his party of choice and he was still a member. He said he had an obligation to play his part for the party and engage the citizens.

On Wednesday, the ANC confirmed Mbeki’s involvement in the election campaign when it released his itinerary for Thursday. He is scheduled to do a walkabout in White City in Jabavu and the Jabulani mall. After he was defeated at the Polokwane conference in 2008, Mbeki refused to campaign for the party during Zuma’s tenure from 2008 to 2018.

Mbeki recently criticised the ANC and its president, Cyril Ramaphosa, for failing to implement its renewal project. 

Last week, Ramaphosa confirmed that most of its former leaders, except Zuma, would start campaigning for the ANC. On his campaign trail in KwaZulu-Natal, he told the media that many former officials had agreed to be deployed in various communities during the election campaign. He said the party’s campaign would include former deputy presidents David Mabuza, Kgalema Motlanthe and Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and Baleka Mbete.    

ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said this is the party’s deployment of elderly and former leaders to campaign.

The former ANC deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe will also be seen on the campaign trails.

This is as the ruling party is beefing and ramping up its campaign before the elections. Rolling out party veterans is part of the ANC’s strategy to remain in power.

The ANC said this is aimed at encouraging citizens to vote for the ANC and galvanising the various communities leading up to the polls.

The elections will be held on May 29.

The ANC has been on a strong campaign trail since last year in preparation for the polls. During the trails, the party has promised citizens a better life for all, jobs, businesses, water as well as electricity.

This is despite Mbeki being non-committal about whether he would campaign for the governing party or not but eventually agreed that he would campaign as he was obliged to do so.

Last year, while delivering the eulogy at a memorial service for his friend and former Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad, hosted by the ANC at the University of Johannesburg, Mbeki took a swipe at President Cyril Ramaphosa and the ANC, saying the renewal project has been all talk and no action or plan.

Mbeki said that the party’s resolution to renew itself was taken at its 2017 elective conference and again at its 2022 conference, “but nothing has been done.”

Furthermore, the ANC has expressed confidence that it will retain power and continue to govern the country.