Johannesburg - ANC member Phaphano Phasha has accused the RET forces within the ANC of not doing enough to successfully challenge the direction in which the current ANC leadership is taking the country.
This comes as the country has been plunged into stages 4 and 6 of load shedding since the start of the year, and many cadres of the ruling party are finding the going getting difficult within the structures of the party.
Service delivery issues have also become big challenges as the country battles higher rates of unemployment and other socio-economic challenges.
Phasha was speaking during a round-table conversation with JJ Tabane on his “Truth to Power” television show on Tuesday evening, which featured former ANC member Carl Niehaus and Andile Mngxitima, of the BLF.
"My challenge is that many of us who claim to be radical within the ANC have done nothing really. We have stood up and we have been populist; we couldn’t even organise ourselves to deal with some of the issues being raised.
The RET forces, who had campaigned for Dr Zweli Mkhize as their preferred presidential candidate, were unable to find a voice for their list of candidates at the recent 55th ANC National Conference, resulting in President Cyril Ramaphosa's return to the ANC helm for a second term.
Many others, such as Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Lindiwe Sisulu, couldn’t garner enough nominations to be on the ballot at the conference.
On the issue of the privatisation of SAA and other state entities, Phasha said the RET forces and the black middle class had failed the poor, adding that they could’ve taken Minister of State Enterprises, Pravin Gordhan, to court in defence of the sale of SAA.
"For an example, on the issue of SAA which was sold for a song, we could’ve taken the minister Pravin Gordhan to court to make sure that he accounts. There are many things that we could’ve done.
"In 2017, some of us wrote to the Public Protector to deal with the issue of IPPs primarily, because we had sufficient evidence from progressive engineers. (They) were saying this energy policy is going to ensure that Eskom is unable to provide electricity," she said.
The Star