PE pastor abandons ANC to join EFF

THE ANC has lost its moral fibre, Port Elizabeth clergyman the Rev Xolani Tengo, who left the ruling party to join the EFF this week, said.

“It [the ANC] has become sick under the leadership elected in Polokwane,” he said, explaining his decision to leave the party after 27 years as a member and 36 years as a supporter.

Tengo, 56, said he believed the EFF was serious about fighting corruption. He joined the party on Sunday.

Tengo who is known for raising unpopular issues pertaining to the ANC or government, said he had been mulling over his decision for about a month after national, provincial and regional ANC leaders failed to respond to letters in which he raised concerns about fraud and corruption in Port Elizabeth.

“Last year, I sent a letter to the ANC while Oom Ben [Fihla] was still the mayor and raised concerns about the IPTS,” he said.

“They intervened and brought a new mayor who says he is cleaning out corruption.

“But all that we have seen is that officials were suspended but they are still getting their salaries every month. How is that fighting corruption?

“People are stealing houses and the correct beneficiaries are not getting their houses. “The ANC is no longer the ANC.” “Some of us who were active in ANC structures have participated in various door-to-door campaigns encouraging community members to join and vote for [the] ANC in the past.

“It will be very difficult to approach the same community, knowing full well that the ANC has lost direction.”

He said a number of people had supported his decision to join the EFF, with some planning to follow suit.

Others, however, had phoned him to try to convince him to rather attempt to fix the party from the inside, he said.

ANC national spokesman Zizi Kodwa wished Tengo well in his new political home.

“He has taken a decision voluntarily; he was not forced,” Kodwa said.

“He will realise that it is better to stay in the ANC and build the ANC.”