Former president Thabo Mbeki has called on African National Congress (ANC) leaders to convene a conference to specifically deal with corruption as well as factionalism among party members.

Mbeki was speaking at the funeral service of struggle stalwart Andrew Mlangeni. The service is being held at the University of Johannesburg’s Soweto Campus in Gauteng.

Mbeki says Mlangeni remained concerned about the state of the ANC.

Mlangeni, who was the last surviving Rivonia trialist, died last Tuesday at the age of 95, following an abdominal complaint.

His funeral service will be followed by a burial service at Roodepoort Cemetery.

President Cyril Ramaphosa accorded Mlangeni a Special Official Funeral Category One. Flags continue to fly at half mast until he is laid to rest.

Mbeki says the ANC must honour Mlangeni’s legacy by renewing the people’s confidence in it.

“He was very concerned about his movement the ANC, movement that he and others built over many decades, with regard to the revolution for which he sacrificed his life. There’s a loss of confidence in the ANC. It will not be possible to deal with all of these various challenges unless we renew the ANC and I think if we do that this should be a very good farewell a very good monument to such an outstanding revolutionary as Andrew Mlangeni. Calls have been made that the ANC should constitute a conference specifically to look at this matter of its renewal, we need that. “

In the video  below, Mbeki speaks at the funeral:

In the video below, struggle veteran Mavuso Msimang describes Mlangeni as humble:

In the video below, Prof. Hlengiwe Mkhize says Mlangeni took COVID-19 regulations seriously:

Mlangeni was sentenced to life imprisonment on 12 June 1964 after his arrest on Lilies Leaf farm in July 1963.

He spent 26 years in prison on Robben Island. After his release in 1989 and South Africa’s first democratic election in 1994, Mlageni served as a member of a democratically elected Parliament from ’94 to 2004 and in the National Assembly from 2009 until 2014, when he retired.