Ramaphosa supporters say they were bullied

26 June 2017 - 07:08 By NATHI OLIFANT
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ANC Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa. File photo.
ANC Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa. File photo.
Image: Moeletsi Mabe

Cyril Ramaphosa supporters who attended the three-day meeting of the general council of the KwaZulu-Natal ANC say they were bullied and their voices suppressed.

President Jacob Zuma gate-crashed the event in Empangeni on Friday.

It was the second time that Zuma has made an unannounced stop at a KwaZulu-Natal event at which ANC treasurer-general Zweli Mkhize was a speaker.

In January, when Mkhize addressed the 105th ANC anniversary celebrations in KwaDukuza as a representative of the ANC's national executive committee, Zuma arrived unannounced while he was in the middle of his speech, causing former premier and provincial party chairman Senzo Mchunu to walk out.

Mchunu was a delegate at the three-day event and is known to support Mkhize's bid for the deputy presidency under Ramaphosa.

Again on Friday Mkhize was the only NEC member on the council's programme but provincial secretary Super Zuma announced that the president would join the event later.

Zuma flew to the council venue from Swaziland on Friday evening. He had attended the Southern African Customs Union summit. He arrived after Mkhize had finished his speech.

One of Ramaphosa's staunch supporters in the SA Communist Party said "this [Zuma's presence] was bullying in the extreme".

"This type of behaviour does not happen anywhere in the country where Mkhize or any other NEC members are deployed. This happened in Stanger in January and it was condoned, but clearly there's a pattern," he said.

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