ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa at Cosatu's central committee meeting in Centurian.
Cyril Ramaphosa’s 2017 campaign team says reports of “all-white” campaign team “are inaccurate, insulting and racist”.
The spotlight was shone on the deputy president’s Cyril Ramaphosa’s bid to succeed Jacob Zuma as the president after The Sunday Times reported at the weekend that Ramaphosa’s presidential campaign was in danger of splitting because of the racial tensions that marred his campaign’s gate-keeping “all-white” management team.
The team made these comments after Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader, Julius Malema said the deputy president is non-white, not black in a rally last week.
The Cyril Ramaphosa Campaign team released a media statement on Wednesday dismissing claims of “all-white” management team and said the deputy president’s team consists of South Africans of all races that are tried and tested members of the ANC.
“For the record, the CR17 campaign consists of South Africans of all races from across the country. Claims that the campaign is run by whites are not only untrue and inherently racist, but they diminish the contribution that those individuals involved in the campaign have made over many years to the struggle for a free and democratic South Africa. They are all tried and tested members of the African National Congress. Some of these comrades were members of Umkhonto we Sizwe and served time in apartheid jails in the fight for our democracy”, the statement read.
The deputy president’s campaign also added that Ramaphosa was committed to non-racialism and raised concerns on the use of race as a political weapon.
“Ramaphosa’s record in the ANC, government and business underscores his unwavering commitment to non-racialism and to the empowerment of black and women South Africans. The CR17 campaign is concerned about how race is being increasingly used as a political weapon to undermine the integrity of comrades. The CR17 campaign will continue to work for a movement and a country which, in the words of Nelson Mandela, is a better home for all,” the statement read.