President Cyril Ramaphosa has labelled former ANC president Jacob Zuma and his crony former ANC secretary general Ace Magashule losers who will not emerge victorious after the general elections this year.
Ramaphosa was responding to Zuma and Magashule statements insinuating that the ANC has been rigging the votes in order to remain the ruling party in the country. Zuma publicly threatened the ruling party that if his new political party uMkhonto weSizwe doesn’t get a two-thirds majority vote then the country will be subjected to instability which will give birth to calamity. His ally Magashule echoed Zuma as well, saying that there will be no “vote rigging” now that he will be contesting the upcoming elections under his own party, the African Congress for Transformation (ACT).
The two former ANC senior leaders' public spats raised eyebrows of the masses which questioned the credibility of the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC).
Magashule who was campaigning in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal who could not substantiate his claims when asked if the ANC had been rigging votes during his tenure as the party’s secretary general said: “We are going to win elections, we’re very confident. There is not going to be any rigging of elections. Our eyes are open because we know, I’ve been part of the ANC, we know what’s going to happen. We, as black parties, have learned and we have agreed that we are not going to allow any elections to be rigged.”
Ramaphosa said Zuma’s claims are unbecoming and he remains perplexed that the man who participated in various elections could utter such bunkum. He urged Magashule and Zuma to refrain from spreading false anecdotes because they know that the IEC processes and systems are transparent therefore it will be disingenuous to think that vote rigging is possible. Ramaphosa known to his supporters as “The Buffalo” also warned Zuma and Magashule that South Africa is not a banana republic that will allow anarchism to threaten the right of the people as a democratic nation therefore those who think they can enforce a two-thirds majority vote undemocratically they won’t succeed with their selfish intentions.
“It smacks of the type of talk that losers will always want to accuse the process because they know that they are not going to be winners or successful. We trust the IEC system that is enshrined in our constitution in our laws. We will accept any outcome because we know that it is transparent.The IEC system is one of the best in the world therefore we remain adamant that there is no vote rigging,” said Ramaphosa.
The ANC President said he is not worried that the ANC NEC took a decision to suspend Zuma of MK party fame who publicly announced that he will not vote or campaign for the ANC. Zuma is the first former president of the ANC and the country to be arrested for refusing to appear before the Zondo Commission. He is also the first ANC ex-president to be suspended for forming his own political party geared to challenge his former party.
Ramaphosa said the ruling party’s constitution doesn’t allow dual members therefore the ANC invoked rule 25.60 which led to Zuma’s suspension.
“No, I am not worried he is a free agent, he has decided to go and support or form another party and the NEC this weekend took a decision that he should be suspended in terms of the Rules of our Constitution 25/60. But as we speak now, Jacob Zuma has been suspended by the ANC because he said that he is going to support this party which many of us believe he has formed and on top of that, he said he wants to remain a member of the ANC. The ANC constitution does not allow and that is why the NEC has taken the decision that it has taken,” Ramaphosa said.
President Cyril Ramaphosa unfazed by losers who spread false rumours about election rigging.
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