CELEBRATIONS
Cyril Ramaphosa turns on the charm as ANC toasts to 107 years
ANC supporters bused in to the Ohlange Sports Stadium in Inanda‚ north of Durban‚ for the party’s main January 8 birthday rally on Tuesday chanted in support of former president Jacob Zuma immediately after President Cyril Ramaphosa concluded his speech.
This was despite Ramaphosa veering from his speech to express gratitude to Zuma during the rally‚ seemingly attended by Zuma die-hard supporters.
“Thank you‚ Nxamalala‚ for handing over the baton to me.
“I will run with it together with the ANC NEC and we will make you proud and make our country great‚” Ramaphosa said at the conclusion of his address, after which the crowd chanted: “Zuma‚ Zuma!”
Earlier in his address‚ Ramaphosa also pandered to the former president’s supportZuma ers by insisting that the pair had a good relationship.
He further used his relationship with Zuma to depict what unity ought to look like in the party.
attended the rally, sat alongside Ramaphosa on the stage and later joined his successor in cutting the ANC birthday cake.
“We find ourselves in the key moments in history where we are called upon to restore the movement after a period [during] which our organisational capacity was diminished somewhat‚” Ramaphosa said as Zuma looked ahead stone-faced.
Ramaphosa used his address to highlight unity in the organisation and admitted that the job was incomplete.
He did not fully delve into the sluggish state of the economy‚ instead saying that the ANC manifesto was a plan to grow the economy and create jobs.
Earlier in the day, during a wreath laying ceremony, Ramaphosa told the community that Zuma still had the right to lead the masses, as he presented a united front.
Ramaphosa also said he had no plans to “summon” Zuma, whom he described as one of the ruling party’s “masterminds”.
Ramaphosa was drumming up support for the ANC’s 107th birthday celebrations at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Saturday, at which he will deliver the party manifesto, when he reacted to the Sunday Times’ story.
The Sunday Times reported that Ramaphosa was planning to summon Zuma to a meeting and “shout at him” – something that he dismissed as untrue.
The president also reassured ANC supporters at the Ohlange stadium that there was no bad blood between himself and Zuma.
“A lot of people are saying President Cyril Ramaphosa will meet with Nxamalala [Zuma’s clan name] and shout at him, but I don’t know where they get that information from because there’s no shouting at each other between myself and Nxamalala. We get along very well.
“He is here now, he is a former president, but a former president that I am going to use as the president of the African National Congress.
“Former presidents are used for various tasks because they are the masterminds,” Ramaphosa said.
Former presidents are used for various tasks because they are the masterminds Cyril Ramaphosa