ANC Deputy President Paul Mashatile says it’s impossible to think about the ANC without thinking about both the church. Image: @PMashatile
ANC’s Mashatile and Mokonyane hit the campaign trail in Eastern Cape
ANC Deputy President Paul Mashatile says the church has played a big role in building the ANC and South Africa as a nation.
ANC Deputy President Paul Mashatile says it’s impossible to think about the ANC without thinking about both the church. Image: @PMashatile
ANC Deputy President Paul Mashatile and 1st Deputy General Secretary Nomvula Mokonyane are on a campaign trail in the Eastern Cape to canvass votes from the Christian community ahead of the 2024 national and provincial elections.
Mashatile is in Komani to drum up support in the Chris Hani District, while Mokonyane is in Dutywa Circuit for the Easter Convention in the Amathole Region. Watch the video below.
#ANCInChurch ⚫️🟢🟡
— ANC Eastern Cape (@ANCECape) March 29, 2024
Nzulu Yemfihlakalo! The ANC 1st DSG, Cde Nomvula Mokonyane, is at Dutywa Circuit in Amathole Region. pic.twitter.com/QKSbMYqhYv
‘CHURCH PLAYED A BIG ROLE IN BUILDING ANC AND SA’
In an opinion piece published in Mail & Guardian, Mashatile says it’s almost impossible to think about the ANC without thinking about both the church and traditional authorities, which have played a big role in building the ANC and, essentially, the country.
He says the hymn by Reverend Tiyo Soga, Lizalis’idinga Lakho, has served as one of the guiding mantras for the ANC for more than a century.
“This hymn is a call to the God of truth to fulfil His promise to take away our troubles, bring joy and rule the land,” write Mashatile.
“My father was a priest in the Apostolic church, and this hymn’s significance in the liberation movement affected how I approached my political activism as a believer, and as an activist committed to the ideals of freedom, equality and justice,” he continued.
RULING PARTY CAMPAIGNING HARD IN THE EASTERN CAPE
Mashatile said in his youth, he served as the co-founder of the Alexandra Youth Congress, a predecessor to the ANC Youth League, but also spent a lot of time as an organiser and assistant general secretary of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in the 1980s.
The ANC has been campaigning hard in the province, a ‘bread-basket’ for the ruling party, which faces declining support ahead of the elections due to increasing levels of poverty, unemployment, load shedding, crime, and gender-based violence.
Mashatile is the latest ANC heavyweight to campaign in the province after Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula recently visited Buffalo City Municipality (BCM) in East London. ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa was in Gqeberha, formerly Port Elizabeth.
ANC National Chairperson Gwede Mantashe visited the OR Tambo district.
