Ramaphosa says ANC can rebuild trust with its supporters

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday stressed the importance of the African National Congress improving living conditions in the country, saying the ruling party had the ability to change the lives of citizens and rebuild trust with its supporters.

Addressing the Western Cape ANC’s Policy Conference at the Stellenbosch Town Hall, Ramaphosa said discussions at the ANC’s National Policy Conference, later this month, were important to navigate the party into the future, EWN reported.

“All of us know that we are going through really difficult times as an organisation,” he said, adding that there was a way forward for the ANC to ensure “that come 2019, we sweep the board”.

“We will be able to get back the historical formations that are aligned with us.”

According to a News24 report, Ramaphosa – who’s a frontrunner to succeed President Jacob Zuma at the ANC’s national elective conference in December – suggested that the party had to resolve “internal squabbles” and rebuild trust with its supporters, “so that its love affair with our people can be regained.”

He also warned that unless the ANC took steps to deal with its current challenges, “we are going to flounder and we are going to fail…”

“The ANC that I know, and that I am deputy president of, is not an African National Congress of failure, and is not an African National Congress of defeat and is not an African National Congress of a defeated people, and is not an African National Congress that is going to fail our people…”

Ramaphosa said the country’s downgrade to junk status by two global credit ratings agencies earlier this year, were important concerns.

He said: “When we manage the economy we must not be reckless; we must not drive this economy to the ground.”

“We are not answerable to foreign interests, to certain families, to certain individuals,” he charged, while taking a veiled jab at the controversial Gupta family – Zuma’s close friends dogged by state capture allegations.

The ANC goes to its National Policy Conference at the end of this month.

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