President Cyril Ramaphosa says there is nothing “sinister” about his decision to visit the ANC in the Eastern Cape ahead of its provincial conference.

“There is nothing sinister, nothing strange or funny. There is no other agenda. If anything, it is a very beautiful organisational agenda,” said Ramaphosa in his capacity as ANC president. 

Ramaphosa was speaking on the sidelines of a two-day national executive committee countrywide engagement on the 2021 local government elections in Mthatha on Saturday.

His visit comes a week after former president Thabo Mbeki visited the Free State in a bid to renew, rebuild and unite the ANC in the province.

Ramaphosa, who is seeking a second term as party president when the ANC goes to its national conference in December, is believed to be doing the same in the Eastern Cape.

Flanked by provincial chairperson Oscar Mabuyane, Ramaphosa also reportedly met members of the province’s extended executive committee to address the task team.

“We are meeting our structures, provincial executive committee members and tomorrow we are going to meet with all of our branches,” he said.

“We are going on with our evaluation of our election process that we went through so this is a very normal process that the ANC engages in to enable members of the NEC to engage with our leaders at the provincial level.”

In a statement released by the ANC on Friday, party spokesperson Pule Mabe said engagements with its structures formed part of the Letsema campaign, which will be unveiled in the coming week. Letsema means “a group of people working together in a field”.

Mabe said the campaign was an important building block for the 2024 general elections.

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