After losing the cities Tshwane and Johannesburg, following the local government elections, the ANC is prepared to be a “strong opposition”, said treasurer general Zweli Mkhize.

Mkhize was addressing media and business leaders at the Sanlam offices in Sandton, on Tuesday night. He shared on the outcomes of the local government elections.

“We want those two cities back, there’s no other way about it. We will be a strong opposition,” he said. The ANC majority declined to 54%. “This was not good news for us,” he said.

Following the decline, ratings agencies were concerned that the party would change policies to appease voters. But Mkhize affirmed that this would not be the case. “There is no reason why the ANC should have a problem of policy between now and 2019,” he said.

The party has since been looking to address the issues that caused the decline. “The issue up for debate is how the ANC can renew itself and its leadership selection… The NEC is dealing with factionalism in the ANC,” he said. The matter is to be dealt with internally.

This past week, members marched to Luthuli House to have President Jacob Zuma removed. Mkhize said the concept of a march was nothing new, as reported in media. He said that members of the ANC had always marched to Luthuli House in the past, to hand over memorandums to the general secretary.

Mkhize also reaffirmed that the ANC would not allow state capture. “By principle we do not allow state capture, it doesn’t matter by who,” he said, making reference to the Gupta family.

Reporting by Lameez Omarjee