ANC renewal must begin in northern cape‚ says Ramaphosa

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa says the renewal of the ANC must begin in the Northern Cape.

 Delivering a keynote address at the party's provincial elective congress under way in Colesberg‚ Ramaphosa said the three-day gathering where the new provincial leadership was due to be elected should trigger the revival of the ANC in the province.

The ANC provincial chairmanship is vacant after John Block‚ who had occupied that position for more than a decade‚ was forced to step down after being convicted of fraud and corruption related to government tenders.

Outgoing provincial Secretary Zamani Saul is the frontrunner to replace Block but he is being challenged by Premier Sylvia Lucas‚ who sent shockwaves this week with a controversial provincial cabinet reshuffle on the eve of this conference in what has been described as purge of those who do not support her.

• 'Ramaphosa‚ Dumela!' Northern Cape ANC greets CyrilDeputy president Cyril Ramaphosa received a rousing welcome on Friday morning when he joined delegates to the ANC Northern Cape elective conference in Colesberg. 

Ramaphosa said conference was an opportunity for the Northern Cape ANC to cleanse itself and root out disunity among its ranks. "We must renew and rebuild and that process must begin here in the Northern Cape. "As we gather here in cold Colesberg‚ we must admit that this great church (ANC) is in danger.

Where once there was unity‚ we now find disunity in this church. "There are some people who say we don't have to go through this painful process. Comrades‚ we have to go through this process. We should do so with our eyes on 2019; how we can win in 2019‚" he said.

• KZN leaders unhappy with Cyril's detoursThe ANC in KwaZulu-Natal has Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa in its sights. 

This send delegates into a frenzy‚ who shouted "yes‚ yes‚ yes ..." while others chanted CR17 - a moniker given to Ramaphosa's unofficial bid for the ANC presidency ahead of the national elective conference scheduled for December 2017.

The ANC presidential hopeful insisted that the ANC was not yet beyond repair. "We are far from ruin. We are far from total disintegration.

• Surprise Northern Cape reshuffle leaves ANC lividThe ANC expressed disbelief yesterday at Northern Cape Premier Sylvia Lucas's decision to reshuffle her cabinet without consulting the party. 

But we must trace back to find out how we got to where we are." Ramaphosa also spoke out against corruption within State Owned Companies.

While he did not mention the Gupta family by name‚ he said the ANC's push for radical economic transformation was not for the benefit of a select few or any particular family.

The deputy president told ANC members that the party did not need arrogant leaders who don't listen to the people.