DEPUTY president Cyril Ramaphosa has shot down President Jacob Zuma’s proposal.
Zuma wants the losing candidate in the ANC presidential race to become deputy.
The leadership election scheduled for Saturday at Nasrec, Joburg, is too close to call.
Ramaphosa has received the most branch votes but as branches aren’t all the same size, this does not mean he’ll get the
majority of delegates’ votes.
In July, Zuma told representatives at the party’s national policy conference in Nasrec that, in the case where two candidates contested the presidency position, the loser could automatically become the deputy.
But on Friday, speaking to City Press a confident-sounding Ramaphosa said: “President Zuma floated the idea at the policy conference, but it never really took off.”
Two weeks ago, Zuma met all seven ANC presidential contenders but did not try to broker a deal.
According to Ramaphosa, Zuma said they should get their supporters to behave so the conference will be successful.
Ramaphosa said all candidates had committed to a fair fight and to behaving in a way that would not disgrace the ANC.
“I do not believe anybody in their right mind would want to rob almost one million members of the ANC and its 10 million supporters of this great moment as the ANC seeks to reunite, renew and revitalise itself.
“It would be a betrayal of history and what the founders of the ANC would have wanted to see.”
Ramaphosa said if he wins at Nasrec, one of his key tasks would be to bring back competent people who had left national government, like former budget chief Michael Sachs.
He left Treasury as he was unhappy with the direction in which it was heading. – CITY PRESS
