WATCH: Ramaphosa confident ANC will get over 50% in elections

President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed confidence that his party the African National Congress (ANC) will get more than 50% of the votes in the upcoming national and provincial election and may even win the Western Cape.  

South Africans will go to the polls on 29 May in what is expected to be the most hotly contested elections since the dawn of democracy thirty years ago.

Addressing thousands of supporters at Cape Town’s Athlone stadium on Wednesday, Ramaphosa in his capacity as ANC leader emphasized the governing party’s goal of achieving a decisive victory in the election, noting that the people are determined to ensure the party does not fall below the 50% mark.

Watch President Cyril Ramaphosa speaking about winning the elections

ANC could take Western Cape

“There are those who go around, various political parties who go around and are our opponents. They run around the country like little brakkies, running around and saying all manner of things saying nweh, nweh, nweh (sic).

The ANC president also took the opportunity to throw some jabs at the Democratic Alliance (DA), predicting that the ANC could take control of the Western Cape province.

“They are saying that the ANC is going to be below 50%. I want to give them a very clear message. The workers of this country, the people of this country are not going to allow the ANC to go below 50%. They are going for an outright majority of the African National Congress and here in the Western Cape, we are going to show those who believe that the Western Cape belong to them, that the African National Congress is coming after you,” Ramaphosa said.

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Damage done by apartheid

Earlier, Ramaphosa said more still needs to be done to reverse the scars of apartheid 30 years later.

“We remember the generations of worker leaders, organizers, shop stewards and many unionists who fought for the rights of all workers and the freedom of our people. We also recall the sacrifices that were made in the course of freedom.

“The lives that were lost, the suffering that was endured by so many workers in our country so that we could achieve our freedom. Many were killed, because the made the mistake of aligning themselves with the liberation struggle of our people. Many fled the country because they were liberation fighters.

“Many were possibly removed from their homes, land, because they dared as workers to stand up to the apartheid misrulers of our country,” Ramaphosa said.

Ramaphosa said government will continue with the struggle that workers have always engaged in.

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