Hands off our president: these are the words of the Limpopo ANC directed to those calling for President Cyril Ramaphosa to step aside ahead of the party’s national elective conference next month amid his controversial Phala Phala game farm saga.
The ANC in the province said calls by other sections of the party calling for Ramaphosa to step aside because of the scandal were ill-informed, lacked substance and were premature.
On Sunday, party provincial spokesperson Mathole Jimmy Machaka said the ANC in Limpopo does not support calls for Ramaphosa to step aside.
“In the ANC, a leader steps aside on two grounds,” said Machaka. “If and when one is charged by a court of law and when the leader is recommended to step aside as per recommendations of the ANC’s integrity committee.
“But ironically, in this situation, Ramaphosa was not charged by any court of law, nor was he recommended to step aside by the commission,” Machaka said.
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Because of this, Machaka said Ramaphosa was correct not to heed the call of his political foes to step aside.
He said the president was within his rights to not step aside.
“Our president has done nothing wrong that warrants he step down. What happened to the notion of innocent until proven guilty?” he asked.
Machaka urged all those calling for Ramaphosa to step aside to wait for the outcome of the investigation into the Phala Phala matter.
“Let’s not be quick to judge him. Let’s all wait for the investigations against him to complete and then ANC processes shall kick in,” said Machaka.
Meanwhile, the Limpopo provincial executive committee has already started celebrating Ramaphosa’s election victory in ANC presidential race – five weeks before the beginning of the confeference. The ANC will hold its 55th elective conference from 16 to 20 December.
“The writing is on the wall. Ramaphosa has already won the conference. That is why you see his political foes starting to hatch a plot against him because he is unstoppable,” said Masilo Maloko, chair of the Norman Mashabane region.
“Against all odds, the president managed to bag support from many provinces for his ANC presidential bid.
“He has already won the support of Gauteng, North West, Mpumalanga, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and Limpopo. He has also bagged support from the ANC Youth League and the Women’s League.
“That should be proof enough that Ramaphosa will be elected for a second term as ANC president,” Maloko said.
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