Cyril Ramaphosa’s win as ANC president has been as warmly welcomed on the North Coast as it has been throughout the country.
Ramaphosa was elected 13th president of the governing party at the 54th national conference at Nasrec in Johannesburg on Monday.
With a total of 2240 votes, Ramaphosa won the race against his opponent Nkosazana DlaminiZuma by 179 votes.
Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza becomes deputy president of the party.
Despite pledging support of the ANC in the Greater KwaDukuza Region to Dlamini-Zuma, ANC chairperson Ricardo Mthembu said they will be supporting Ramaphosa.
“We welcome him as president and we are subjecting ourselves to him. There is no bitterness and in fact, it is a celebration. It is not that Cyril has won but it is that the ANC has won and will continue to win.”
For some local political parties, the hope is for the end of an era of corruption from the very top of the ruling party. DA Ilembe chief whip Malcolm Hubner said the only way for Ramaphosa to show his worth is to act against Zuma and to do it fast.
Also read: Ten tweets that perfectly sum up the #ANC54 electoral conference
“In politics, corruption starts at the top and is passed down to local levels. This election has caused huge fractions between the ANC party in Ilembe and KwaDukuza as some were in Ramaphosa’s camp while others were in Dlamini-Zuma’s camp. Nevertheless, a divided party is a weak party and it will be interesting to see how they will repair themselves if that is even possible.
“Ramaphosa was the best choice from a bad bunch but it should also not be forgotten that while he served as Zuma’s deputy in 2012, he sat still in the wake of corruption. At the end of the day, it comes down to corruption affecting service delivery. The people who suffer most are the people who have always been suffering, the poor.”
Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) KwaDukuza PR councillor Moosa Motala said Ramaphosa had the potential of helping the country’s economy and he will take the country forward.
However, he believed that not having a KZN leader in the top six of the leadership will worsen the infighting within the party in KZN.
Speaking to the Courier on Monday, former ANC president’s daughter and ANC veteran Dr Albertina Luthuli said she was overjoyed at Ramaphosa’s win.
“The ANC has to work hard to recover themselves and I feel Ramaphosa is equipped to do this. At the moment our country is divided and his first task should be to ensure unity. We just have to hope that he too does not end up captured and if that does happen, we as South Africans must not sit back but act immediately. Overall, he has a good business sense and this could positively affect our economy.”
Shortly after the announcement of Ramaphosa’s presidency, the rand strengthened to just under R12.60 to the dollar.
However, economist Dawie Roodt told the Courier the rand has suffered a major blow in the past year and was still weak.
“The rand is trading on politics and is not nearly where it needs to be. There is a chance that Zuma could be recalled and this will not help the economic situation. There are still other factors like the budget for example that will affect value. The stir that will be caused by Zuma’s decision to provide free education could be detrimental as a result of a political fall out. It is always good in the beginning but we will have to wait and see.”
North Coast residents expressed their thoughts on the Courier’s Facebook page.
Seems Mahadeo said: “Ramaphosa by the grace of God will not have his fingers in state coffers, he has the great business acumen and made his own money.”
Thembie Koppie Mtshali said, “Over the moon, ANC voted, they supposed to do this a long time ago, congrats CR17, I am behind you all the way. At last the Zuma surname is going down.”
Elizabeth Beyers said, “ Good choice, but he has a big job ahead of him particularly since his team consists mainly of Zuma supporters. Challenging!”
Patricia Govender said, “Best Christmas gift ever! We must pray that he leads with wisdom and integrity. The sun is shining again on our beautiful country.”
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