‘ANC leaders should not talk about internal issues in newspapers and on TV’, says Ramaphosa

27 September 2021 - 07:05
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President Cyril Ramaphosa told ANC leaders to talk about their grievances internally.
President Cyril Ramaphosa told ANC leaders to talk about their grievances internally.
Image: Thapelo Morebudi

ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa has cautioned leaders about airing their dirty laundry in public, saying “we must talk about our issues at home, in the ANC”.

“The ANC is going to emerge out of these local government elections more united, more renewed, more determined and more energetic to serve the people of SA,” Ramaphosa said at Hospital View in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng.

The president was speaking in the last area he visited in Thembisa on Sunday during the ruling party’s weekend local government election campaign trail.

Earlier in the day Ramaphosa and his delegation were met by angry protesters at the Ekurhuleni community care centre. They were complaining about the candidate for their ward in the upcoming local government elections.

Later, in the Winnie Madikizela-Mandela area in ward 3, Ramaphosa was met with a positive response from his supporters, including seven-year-old Zinhle and her mother, Nomsa.

In Clayville, he was shown an RDP housing development where people were complaining about the size of their homes and cracking infrastructure.

During his campaign, Ramaphosa listened to grievances and handed out free ANC T-shirts while promising to attend to the issues.

Delivering a message at the end of his campaign in Hospital View, Ramaphosa said: “This time around we are very serious and we are busy cleaning up the ANC. We are renewing the ANC and we are saying even if ANC leaders have differences, they must talk about their differences inside the ANC, not in the newspapers, not on TV. They must talk about it at home. We should not take the fight into the public.

“What I love about this mayor [Mzwandile Masina] is that he works for the people. Here in Ekurhuleni, he has worked and delivered even with all the challenges that existed. That is why we are saying thank you to our metro mayor and we say we can see the development.

“When we go to the November 1 polls, siya singenalo uvalo, siyazi ukuthi iANC izamile noma bekunzima ukuthi isebenze. [We are going into the elections with no fear, knowing the ANC has tried and was able to deliver despite the challenges].”

Ramaphosa said from national to local government, “the ANC has showed we have people who really care about our people’s wellbeing. Covid-19 has brought incredible hardship with 1.4-million people losing their jobs, but government came up with a stimulus package of R500bn that helped to increase the grants for the elderly and children and a grant for the unemployed, even though it was very little. It was better than all the other countries where there was not a single cent.

“We put in that R350 grant and said it will help a lot of people. It has helped more than six million people. It expired but we found money to continue it. A lot of people have reapplied and are receiving it. ”

Ramaphosa said the R350 grant would come to an end in February but  “after that we will have to look at the budget and, depending whether we have the budget, we will continue it”.

“We have a caring government,” he said.

Ramaphosa said during his campaign most people complained about unemployment.

“Our people want jobs and we are going to work very hard to make sure we will create jobs because today there are 12 million South Africans who are not working. That is a big number. Around 34.4% of our people are unemployed, so that for me is a big headache. I do not l sleep well at night knowing that. We will try our best to create jobs.”

Ramaphosa said work was being done to build more houses, clinics and schools.

“All these are things we must do. We are here before you not to make promises but to tell you we will continue doing our work. We do not want to make empty promises. Yes, we make mistakes. There is no-one who has never made a mistake. We have all made mistakes but what is important is that we want to correct our mistakes.

“During the local government elections we want to turn a new page altogether. We want a clean government. We want those who are looting to leave government and never be employed again. Those who do not care about our people, we want them to step aside.

“The good thing about Ekurhuleni is that we are not starting from the bottom.  Ekurhuleni is the only municipality that received a clean audit, beating Cape Town, eThekwini and other metros.”

“We want to turn a new page in the local government elections. In these elections, we must be perfect, from our candidates to our mayors and our speakers. They must show full dedication. They must demonstrate they are not in the job for themselves, and not to steal money, but to go and work for the community. That is exactly what we are going to get this time around.”

Ramaphosa reminded residents to social distance, wear their masks and get vaccinated.

“You guys like laughing at me when I say ‘My fellow South Africans’. I know you guys like laughing at me when I mess up wearing my mask on TV.

“I want you guys to listen to the premier when he goes and TV and tells us to get vaccinated. We have set up a lot of vaccination centres. I came to Ekurhuleni and saw a vaccination centre working extremely well but there weren’t a lot of people.

“The other problem is that fathers are the ones who are lagging behind. They are scared to get vaccinated. They are afraid of the injection. They are cowards. Men, let’s stop being cowards and let’s go and get vaccinated.”

Ramaphosa reminded the community that vaccinated people were less likely to die of Covid-19.

“They don’t die. They do get Covid-19, but when you are vaccinated, you are protected..”

He begged residents to vote on November 1.

“When you fall asleep on October 31, if you are sleeping with a partner, you should postpone whatever you have planned for the  night for the next day after you have voted.

“When you wake up, please set your alarm to wake you so you can go and vote. The first thing you need to do when you wake up in the morning is to remember you have an appointment with the president. You will see me on your ballot papers. Wake up and tell everyone you have an appointment with the president.”

He said opposition parties were going to try to convince residents to vote for them, saying “nywe,nywe, nywe, but they will never deliver. There is nothing they are doing”.

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