Ramaphosa seemed unperturbed as he again tried to shrug off the controversy around his private life and alleged sex scandal while addressing thousands of his supporters in Phuthaditjhaba in the Free State yesterday.
“Right now, there has emerged a time of dirty tricks. Dirty tricks, where (strange) things are spoken about those who want to be leaders, targeting this one (today), that one (tomorrow),” Ramaphosa said, speaking mainly in Sotho.
“But we are made of sterner character and won’t be deterred. Forward we go, and backwards never,” he added to rapturous applause.
Ramaphosa is vying for the position of ANC president. Former AU Commission chairwoman Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma is seen as his main contender.
Following the publication of details of an alleged scandal last week, in which he admitted to cheating on his wife eight years ago, Ramaphosa described the allegations as a smear campaign and said state resources were being used in an effort to tarnish his name and those of other leaders.
Ramaphosa denounced the spate of political killings in KwaZulu-Natal and appealed to ANC members to resolve their political differences amicably through debate.
Almost 20 ANC officials have been murdered in KZN in the past two years and the death of former ANC Youth League secretary Sindiso Magaqa - who succumbed to a gunshot wound this week - appears to have jolted the ANC, and the country, to the ominous signs around the political tensions in the province.
Ramaphosa called for a return to the founding principles of the ANC to restore the party’s integrity. He said political education was needed to achieve this.
“Comrades, the whole nation has woken up to this ANC that we want to be We want the ANC that has political education to ensure that we keep the values of the ANC, the integrity of the ANC and avoid anything and any attempt that is going to divert us.”
“The political killings, as seen in KZN, where specific people are targeted and killed, that is not the way the ANC works. It is not the behaviour and the tradition of the ANC, to target those who you differ with by using dirty tricks against them and by killing them.
“This is what we see happening in KZN and we are saying that this must come to an end. Where we differ, we must differ with debate and persuasion.”
He also appealed for unity within the ANC to help restore the confidence of people in the ANC. “Comrades, we must be a united ANC, the ANC that shines out as an example to the rest of the people People will not respect our movement if we are busy slaughtering each other, if we are busy doing all these things.
“Now, as members of the ANC, we need to be guided by the values of the ANC, the principle of the ANC. Comrades, it is important in this phase of our struggle to focus on that which enables the lives of our people to be better, and behave in such a way that we are capable of running the economy of South Africa.”
More than 5000 people attended Saturday’s event at Mohaladitwe Primary School in QwaQwa, which is part of the ANC’s Mofutsanyana region, to endorse Ramaphosa’s campaign.
Even ANC Women’s League members defied an alleged instruction from the provincial leaders not to attend rallies linked to Ramaphosa by wearing their regalia.
CR17 (Cyril Ramaphosa 2017) Free State convener Nthabiseng Lengau confirmed that they were in defiance of their regional leadership. Lengau said the instruction came after Minister of Education Angie Motshekga arrived to address a rally in QwaQwa on August 26.
“Ramaphosa is our choice,” Lengau said, adding that their national leadership did not consult them when they endorsed Dlamini Zuma to become ANC president. Lengau said Ramaphosa was widely supported in the Free State.
She said a similar rally would be held in Botshabele (formerly Onverwacht) in the ANC Motheo region on Saturday.
One of the organisers, Abiel Mokotso, former regional secretary, said their different branches in the region supported Ramaphosa.
The ANC provincial conference was due to be held last month but has been postponed indefinitely.
No comments:
Post a Comment