KZN ANC leader Sihle Zikalala: Sunday Times quoted me out of context

05 October 2015 - 11:10 By Amanda Khoza, News24
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ANC provincial secretary in KwaZulu-Natal Sihle Zikalala on Sunday refuted a report by the Sunday Times saying he was quoted out of context.

The Sunday Times reported that the ANC Youth League told Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa that it would back Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma for president in 2017.  

The newspaper reported that the message was conveyed to Ramaphosa at a meeting in KwaZulu-Natal.  

The report quoted a high-ranking youth league leader as having said: "We are told that his response was diplomatic. He did not commit to anything the comrades raised."

The report continues to say that the call to have Ramaphosa stay on as deputy president after 2017 was a view shared by Zikalala.

The report quoted Zikalala as having said: "We are happy with our deputy president. We did not know there’s any other view on him, if any. Woman leader or no woman leader, our stance doesn’t change on him."

Responding Zikalala said: "There is a report in the Sunday Times today [Sunday] that suggests that we have said that the deputy president can only or should only be the deputy president and not the president of the country.

"We have not spoken on that issue. The only discussions we had with one of the journalists concerned in the story, was that the deputy president still enjoys our support.

"Whether he becomes the president or the deputy president, it does not matter, he still has our support."

Zikalala said he could not comment on whether the Youth League had met with Ramaphosa or not.

"That is not our issue. Ours is not to say that the deputy president can only be the deputy president and not the president."

When asked if he was suggesting that he was misquoted he said: "The question was brought and we answered the question genuinely, only to be quoted in a different context."

He said KZN was confident in Ramaphosa.

"Comrade Cyril Ramaphosa is one of the most valuable leaders the movement needs going forward. Whether he becomes the president or the deputy, we [as KZN] have not reached a position on that.

"What we know is that he is one of the good leaders in the ANC," said Zikalala.

The ANC youth league in KZN is expected to brief the media on Monday at the ANC’s provincial offices. It is expected to respond to the Sunday Times article on the succession debate and respond to remarks made by the South African Communist Party, which are said to be a direct attack on the youth league.

Source: News24

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