Ramaphosa: I will not be silenced on corruption and state capture

ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa has said he will continue speaking about corruption in his party's ranks and state capture‚ despite efforts to silence him.

Ramaphosa made the remarks on Sunday while addressing thousands of party supporters at a Cadres' Forum in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape.

Ramaphosa told ANC members to speak out against all wrongs in the party and reject attempts from some quarters to quell dissenting voices.

• Ramaphosa backers want him to quit cabinetBackers of Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa want him to quit the post if President Jacob Zuma fails to endorse him as his successor. 

"We are facing problems of corruption within our ranks. Problems of intentions by other people and families to capture our movement and government‚" said Ramaphosa.

"Right now some say we must not talk about problems within the movement. The atmosphere is contaminated. What are we supposed to do? Must we keep quiet? We have to talk about these things so our organisation can self-correct‚" he went on‚ as the hyped-up audience shouted 'bua'‚ a commonly used Sotho term in political circles that loosely means "speak out".

• Cyril to make amends: Ramaphosa takes up Madikizela-Mandela’s offer over Marikana apologyDeputy President Cyril Ramaphosa will heed ANC stalwart Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's advice to return to Marikana to "address" the painful issue of the horrific 2012 shooting that left 34 miners dead. 

"If we do not talk about our problems‚ how are we going to fix our movement? We cannot be silenced and we must refuse to be silenced because this is our movement. We have to analyse what is wrong so we can find answers‚ hence we are talking about our problems openly."