Mantashe held a round table discussion with journalists at Luthuli House on Wednesday.
The stalwarts have raised concerns about the state of the ANC and agreed with the party that a consultative conference must be held to assess the state of the organisation.
The secretary-general says this possibility of powerful interests amongst stalwarts doesn’t mean that their contribution to the party is meaningless.
“As veterans and stalwarts meet, there are powerful interests; for example, you find that among them that there are quite significant business people – they have interests. So this thing of some holy individuals is actually a myth.”
