The ANC Youth League has called on deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa to refrain from making himself available to be the next party president on media platforms.

“All that we are condemning is people making themselves available prior to being nominated. Nobody has nominated Ramaphosa so he should await his nomination. The process of the ANC is that a branch must nominate you and then you must accept nomination‚” said ANCYL secretary-general Njabulo Nzuza.

He was speaking at the O.R Tambo International Airport on Wednesday ahead of former African Union Commission chairwoman Dr Nkosazane Dlamini-Zuma’s arrival from Addis Ababa‚ Ethiopia.

“If you go to media platforms and say you’re available you are actually contravening rules and regulations as well as organizational culture‚” added Nzuza.

Earlier this year‚ the young lions slammed the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu)‚ the ANC’s biggest alliance partner‚ for publicly endorsing Ramaphosa as the party’s next leader.

They further criticized the trade union federation’s executive committee for its decision to support and lobby for Ramaphosa‚ saying it should “butt out” of the ANC’s leadership race.

The ANC Women’s League and Cosatu are on opposite sides of the factional divide in the ANC succession race‚ with the league openly backing national executive committee member Dlamini-Zuma to take over from President Jacob Zuma and Cosatu backing Ramaphosa.

The Youth League has since retracted their call for Dlamini-Zuma to be the next leader of the country‚ stating that the leadership race has not yet been opened. — TMG Digital