ANC Deputy Secretary-General Jessie Duarte. Image: Twitter @DKNOnline

‘It is BETRAYAL’: Jessie Duarte is full-on sour grapes over ANC implosion

Jessie Duarte leads the list of cheesed-off government officials – after opposition parties united against the ANC in SA’s metros.

by Tom Head

23-11-2021 18:28

in News

ANC Deputy Secretary-General Jessie Duarte. Image: Twitter @DKNOnline

For the significant majority of South Africans who did not vote for the ANC in 2021, this might be music to your ears. The ruling party, who have had things go their own way for the past 27 years, crashed and burned in the Local Elections – and Jessie Duarte’s attempts to rationalise what happened aren’t exactly helping, either.

Jessie Duarte cries ‘betrayal’ over council votes

The ANC Top Six member has delivered a message to her party comrades, reflecting on the events of the past 24 hours. Not only did the IFP break their coalition agreements with the party in KZN, but a secretive plot between the EFF and ActionSA saw the ANC lose control of all three Gauteng metros for the first time in our democratic history.

The sheer collapse in political support for the ANC has seen the 109-year-old organisation plunged into a crisis. They’ve lost municipalities left, right, and centre this week – and even their Richards Bay stronghold has fallen under IFP control. So, perhaps it’s no wonder that Jessie Duarte is sour grapes about the whole thing.

ANC crisis draws stern response from party bigwigs

Her scornful address accuses other political parties of ‘betrayal’, and Duarte denies that the electorate rejected the ANC – despite only receiving 45% of the vote nationally. Here’s what the veteran of the movement had to say:

“Good morning comrades, have courage. We may have lost a lot of what we worked hard for. But we haven’t lost the battle to transform the lives of our people. Most wards in our country are still under ANC control. The voters did not reject us, as some would have you believe. We must now take a step backwards, and review our position.”
“Whatever happens, we will make sure our people get the services they deserve. Not just the rich and powerful. We must renew our movement, we are the oldest political liberation movement in Africa. We have to serve our people, no matter how badly we are betrayed by the people who pretend to be amongst us.”
Jessie Duarte