Cyril Ramaphosa calls for calm at ANC conference

ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa.
ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Image: REUTERS/Mike Hutchings/File Photo

Cyril Ramaphosa‚ in his capacity as ANC president‚ has called on party members in Gauteng to contest each other as "brother and sister" at this weekend's elective conference.

In his opening address at the event Ramaphosa called for unity‚ saying that after the conference the contestants should embrace each other.

He urged delegates to copy from his example with Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. "Today we are [brother and sister]‚ we are together. We sit next to each other at cabinet meetings ...we hold each other's hands‚ under the table‚" said Ramaphosa‚ to loud applause.

He said there was a new tendency in the ANC where people who are contesting each other could not work together and wouldn't even look each other in the eyes.

Ramaphosa also cautioned leaders from choosing people who they want to be elected alongside them.

He said he made a similar mistake leading up to last year's ANC conference but was corrected by branches.

Ramaphosa said Gauteng was the driver of the country's economy and was important to his drive for the country to raise $100-billion in investments.

He said the ANC in the province was going to face a tough task in the upcoming elections to regain the support of the people. "We must go back [to communities ] ... to say 'we want your love back'‚" he said.

He said the party needs to act against its members involved in corruption. Ramaphosa said the party needed to start a campaign where they ask those involved in corruption to pay back the money they have stolen.

At the opening of the Gauteng ANC’s provincial elective conference at the Saint George Hotel in Irene on Friday July 20 2018, President Cyril Ramaphosa emphasised the need for delegates to adopt the ideal of unity in everything they do in order to have a successful conference.

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