JOHANNESBURG - If the ANC's mission is abandoned, South Africa will fall apart.
That's the message from ANC NEC member, Zweli Mkhize.
He was speaking to students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
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He says some leaders have forgotten what the needs of the people are.
"You have people who basically abandon the mission that brought them together as a movement to deal with, to take the struggle.
"Once that happens, the force that binds us together begins to dissipate and disintegrate and therefore there's no more reason why people should follow the African National Congress because you who are leading in it are no longer believing in the mission," Mkhize said.
"It is the same reason why you would have South Africa breaking up in the future because those who are leading have lost touch with what the reason was that brought them to lead that organisation, what the demands of the people were, what were the aspirations of our people.
"If you deal with it from that angle you will understand how unsafe South Africa can be if you can actually remove from your own minds and belief the commitment and conviction of fulfilling the historic mission of the African National Congress," he continued.
"Which is not about which party belongs to it, it is about where our people came from and where they are going to and as long as our people haven't reached that part, I cannot give up on the African National Congress. Neither should you."