Frank Chikane: "The soul of the ANC is under attack"

Chikane was addressing media at a briefing in Johannesburg this morning, on a tell-all document he submitted to the organisation last year regarding internal affairs issues within the ANC.

The document - called "Saving The Soul of the ANC" - was compiled by an ANC member that Chikane said "was in good standing".

Chikane says he warned the ANC that if changes were not made, the consequences would be drastic.

"The only thing I'll say is, no corrupt leader must be allowed to be close to the leavers of power at any stage. You know when you are corrupted you can make a recommendation to take a decision - a business decision - that costs the country money of the poor, but it goes into the pockets of the rich. You can make decisions like that if you are compromised, and we don't want leaders like that."

Chikane says the ANC needs to make a radical decision to change its direction:

"A radical decision for me firstly is to say: "we made mistakes." You can't correct it unless you accept you made a mistake. You made a mistake about Nkandla throughout. You made a mistake about the Public Protector; you didn't have to wait for a court to tell you that. You made a mistake about the parliamentary exercise there where they used the majority to try to defend the indefensible, and you made a mistake about Minister Nene."