IN QUOTES - Ramaphosa uses Nelson Mandela Day lecture to urge ANC leaders to quell tensions

President Cyril Ramaphosa has urged ANC leaders to ensure stability and calm in communities amid ongoing unrest in parts of the country.

He said they must partner with communities and ANC allies in an effort to rebuild SA after days of violence, looting and destruction of property.

Ramaphosa was delivering his Nelson Mandela Memorial lecture on Sunday after taking part in the cleanup campaign in Soweto.

He commended community efforts to rebuild SA, saying they demonstrated courage and patriotism. 

Here are five quotes from the lecture: 

Rebuilding SA 

“The response of our movement must firstly focus on returning calm and order to the affected communities and ensuring that this anarchy does not spread to the rest of the country. It has been heartening to see the ANC and allies out in the communities to restore calm and order.”

Resisting destruction 

“The majority of our people and structures have stood up and stood together and said ‘even as we face this crisis, we will not allow this to rob us of the gains we have made in our democracy’. Millions of our people have refused to be part of destroying livelihoods, lives, property and collective infrastructure.”

Members let their guard down

"During the course of this unrest, a number of people let their guard down. Going forward, our movement must drive a concrete program to discourage looting and violence, and make it clear we must adhere to the pandemic rules and regulations because it is still a present threat."

ANC members must quell tensions

“The response of our movement must focus on returning calm and order to the affected communities and ensuring this anarchy does not spread."

Vaccination programme has slowed down

“One of the tragic outcomes of the violence we are facing is the halting of the vaccination programme at a time when we have more supply and we are increasing the pace of vaccination. This is likely to increase infections.”