Gauteng’s endorsement for Cyril Ramaphosa not for free, says Lesufi

ANC leadership celebrate Winnie’s 84th birthday

Throngs of ANC supporters braved a hot, late spring afternoon to wait for party and country President Cyril Ramaphosa to address them on the occasion of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s 86th birthday.

When the president eventually took to the podium, he played it safe, avoiding committing on demands to fire Eskom CEO or Gauteng ANC chairperson Panyaza Lesufi’s call that e-tolls be scrapped.

Lesufi told Ramaphosa that his province’s endorsement was “not for free” and was premised on his scrapping etolls and ensuring the end of load-shedding.

Lesufi used the occasion to repeat the ANC’s provincial leadership backing of Ramaphosa, Paul Mashatile as his deputy and Nomvula Mokonyane as one of the two deputy secretary-generals.

“We are saying that [supporting Ramaphosa is] not because we hate other leaders, but because we want him to conclude what he has started.

Speaking to the media after the occasion, Lesufi acknowledged that it might be hardsell asking other provinces to support three candidates from Gauteng into the top 7 of the ANC, but insisted that they were open to being persuaded by other provinces they were in negotiations with.

Ramaphosa told the few hundred people, most of them wearing ANC Women’s League regalia, that Eskom had lost “up to 50% of its capacity” but was now being restored and “we are hoping that load-shedding will be reduced”.

Ramaphosa thanked South Africans for their “patience as Eskom is being fixed and restored”, which he said was a “very challenging and difficult task but we are going to fix it; we are going to lessen loadshedding as we increase Eskom’s capacity”.

The gathering, just outside of Madikizela-Mandela’s Orlando West, Soweto, home turned out to be a mini Women League’s rally, with the various small groupings openly displaying their partisanship in the league internal divide.

While the gathering was overall warm towards Ramaphosa, some ANC activists sang slogans showing opposition to Ramaphosa returning to lead the ANC after the December conference.

A group of women heckled former speaker of parliament Baleka Mbete when she delivered a message of support. They chanted: “We want conference; we want conference.”

This in reference to the Women’s League not having had a conference since 2015 when it elected disgraced Bathabile Dlamini as its president. The structure was collapsed early this year and Mbete was appointed as the league’s convenor.

Dlamini was sentenced to either four years imprisonment or a R200,000 fine for perjury in April. The case related to Dlamini’s testimony at an inquiry that the Constitutional Court had established into her role in the social grant crisis in 2017. The inquiry, headed by Judge Bernard Ngoepe, investigated whether Dlamini should be held personally liable for the costs of the South African Social Security Agency debacle.

Speaking earlier, Madikizela-Mandela’s daughter Zenani announced that the family had decided to turn the Struggle stalwart’s home into a museum celebrating her and other women’s anti-apartheid Struggle’s contribution to democracy and human rights.