ANC hopefuls 'are all as bad as each other'

Former ANC MP Makhosi Khoza has cautioned South Africans against having high hopes for any of the ANC presidential candidates, saying none of them would emerge victorious in the party's December elective conference "without signing a pact with the devil".

"The seven presidential candidates ... belong to the same WhatsApp group and, in particular, because many people think that Cyril Ramaphosa is going to come with some miracle, believe you me, there is no single person that will emerge from that conference without signing a pact with the devil," she said.

Khoza, who quit as an ANC MP and member after she was targeted for calling for President Jacob Zuma to step down, was speaking on the sidelines of the Daily Maverick's The Gathering discussion in Sandton, Johannesburg, on Thursday.

She said the culture in the ANC was that the candidate with a big purse or more brown envelopes was the one who would emerge victorious.

She said her former comrades in the party were as frustrated by the rot as she was but were not courageous enough to stand up.