Whoever wins top ANC job mustn't cast out losers‚ says Dlamini-Zuma

Presidential hopeful Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma says whoever wins the ANC presidency during the party's elective conference in December must be supported by everyone in the party.

Speaking in KwaZulu-Natal on Thursday at a KwaDukuza Women's month event‚ on the eve of the start of the ANC nomination process in Groutville‚ Dlamini-Zuma said the candidate who wins the party's top job must not fire those who lose the contest.

"What I want to say is that when the election is done‚ we'll all support who will win. Whoever wins must not fire us. We will still be members of the ANC even when we lose‚" she said.

"I'm saying this because I’m practising it and I know it. If you lose you support those who win and you must remain in the ANC and work as if you won because the economy is for the people and it’s not yours. You work for the people‚" she said to rapturous applause.

Dlamini-Zuma who has the backing of the ANC Women's League and ANC Youth League‚ in addition to being endorsed by her former husband‚ President Jacob Zuma‚ is also believed to count on the support of the ANC KZN.

She said no one was bigger than the ANC. "The ANC is bigger than all of us‚ individually or collectively."

She warned those who are not prepared to support the winner‚ not to take part in the race to lead the party.

"So if you're not prepared to support who wins‚ it’s okay. The rules of this elective conference in December say take part if you are going to lead everyone and if you're prepared to be led. We must be willing to lead and be led. A person who will think that if they don't win the ANC will be finished is not an ANC person. The ANC will not be finished because I've not been elected‚" said Dlamini-Zuma.

She said in the ANC "you also talk about how you're going to implement the policies of the ANC‚ how you are going to fight corruption and how you're going to deliver services to the people. You don't criticise other people. We must campaign with dignity‚ integrity and respect."

Dlamini-Zuma also lashed out at South African banks which she said did not understand conditions faced by black people and warned that they needed to change.

"Banks must understand black people and women. They must not put conditions they know we will never meet. Banks must change so that we can transform the economy of this country and so that we can participate in the economy."

She also called for the return of the land to the people.

"We need land because we need to build on it and because our population is growing‚" she said.

Earlier‚ Dlamini-Zuma laid a wreath at the grave of the ANC President and Nobel peace laureate Chief Albert Luthuli in Groutville.

At a short church service before that‚ United Congregation Church of Southern Africa deacon Blessing Mthethwa declared that Dlamini-Zuma was going to be president of the ANC in December and that they would pray for her.

MKMVA NEC member Carl Niehaus described Dlamini-Zuma as the best candidate for the ANC's top job.

"In December 2017 only four months away we must make sure we elect Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma overwhelmingly as the president of the ANC. When December 2017 arrives and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is elected ANC president‚ let's unite behind her. In December we will have the first woman president of the ANC and soon after we will have the first woman president of the country."