Ramaphosa’s first test as leader of ANC

ALL eyes will be on Cyril Ramaphosa today when he delivers his maiden January 8 statement in East London.

Thousands of ANC members are expected to pack the 16 000-seater Absa stadium to listen to the recently-elected ANC president.

Ramaphosa is likely to be the next president of the country as the ANC is yet to decide whether or not to recall president Jacob Zuma before the end of his term in 2019.

While there have been suggestions that Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma may be appointed to succeed Zuma as part of a deal with the beleaguered president, this was dismissed by the ANC yesterday.

ANC secretary- general Ace Magashule said there was no substance to the rumour. Those calling for Zuma’s head have claimed that having the president of the country not being the president of the ANC would create “two centres of power”.

Earlier in the week, Magashule said there was only one centre of power within the ANC, suggesting that the state president would be getting his orders from the ruling party.

Yesterday, Ramaphosa met with Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta in what was seen as a sign of a power shift. The meeting came just a day after Kenyatta met Zuma in Durban. Speaking after the meeting, Ramaphosa said they had discussed, among other things, the relationship between Kenya and South Africa.

Zuma will attend the January 8 rally in his capacity as an ex officio member of the national executive committee of the ANC.

Expectations are high that the speech, which is an NEC statement, will unpack some of the policy positions adopted at the ANC’s 54th national conference last month.

These include the expropriation of land without compensation and the implementation of free education at tertiary institutions.

The speech will also influence and set the tone for government policy and programmes for the year, with the state of the nation address expected to take its cue from the statement.

It will, however, seek to mend divisions within the ANC and the tripartite alliance.

Giving a glimpse of his speech, Ramaphosa said he would focus on uniting the ANC and the country.

“If we are united we can achieve a great deal and that is what we will be focusing on,” he said.

The speech will also be closely watched by the ANC’s alliance partners – Cosatu and the SACP.

Cosatu president S’dumo Dlamini said the speech was important as it comes after the national conference.

“What is key is that they are coming from a national conference which had far-reaching resolutions on a number of issues. The policies that were adopted at conference we hope they will be clearly pronounced in particular on the issue of land and the issue of jobs. We would also like to hear how we are going to fix the economy.”

The rally will also mark the unofficial start of an early election campaign ahead of the 2019 general elections.

Dlamini said the ANC would need to win the 2019 elections convincingly, in order to be able to implement some its resolutions – some which require an amendment to the constitution.

However, Ramaphosa, would need to tread carefully as the speech could affect the economy.

Ian Cruickshanks, chief economist at the SA Institute of Race Relations, said if Ramaphosa announced that the party would forge ahead with the expropriation of land without compensation, this would have a negative impact on the economy.

“That would be extremely negative, it can lead to almost zero capital growth. Expropriation without compensation is terrible. He should speak about it because it has been confirmed as ANC policy. We need to know if he can find a way of backing out of that (expropriation) which will be good,” said Cruickshanks.