Zweli Mkhize: We celebrate unity. We championed it and it has emerged. It was not just about being elected but it was a principal we firmly stood for.
ANC leaders and those in opposition parties have begun to share their thoughts on the recent announcement of the party’s new top six. In a deeply contested battle, people in the ANC have pointed out that unity won.
But Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane had a different take.
“The ANC is dead and cannot self-correct, no matter who is at the helm. This is because the party itself is held together only by the glue of patronage and corruption, and Cyril Ramaphosa is just a new face to the same old ANC,” Maimane said in a statement.
“The future of South Africa lies outside of the ANC. It is up to the voters to bring about total change by removing the ANC in 2019 and ushering a new beginning for our country.”
He went on to tweet that: “The ANC is deeply divided, Guptas still in the leadership, essentially Mafia is still in place.”
Maimane’s response mimicked some what some had observed: the ANC’s top six slate is split between Ramaphosa’s faction in the leadership (Gwede Mantashe and Paul Mashatile) and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma’s backers (David Mabuza, Ace Magashule, and Jessie Duarte).
Zweli Mkhize, the now former treasurer-general of the party, said after the election results that he withdrew as the candidate for deputy president in the interests of unity. Inside the Nasrec centre, some ANC supporters cheered when the results were announced, saying the coming together of the two factions showed it was united.
“We celebrate unity. We championed it and it has emerged. It was not just about being elected but it was a principal we firmly stood for. My withdrawal was a principle that helped comrades find a solution,” Mkhize tweeted.
Fikile Mbalula, meanwhile, commented on the results saying “the branches have spoken” while Jackson Mthembu said that he respected the newly elected top six.
Economic Freedom Fighters’ leader Julius Malema added to the criticism of the party’s new leadership, telling observers “don’t get easily excited”.
“Nothing has really changed, the core of the corrupt premier league is at the center of the organization. The Guptas are still in charge and as a result it will be difficult to recall Zuma. Don’t get easily excited over nothing but I’m happy the Zumas ate a humble pie, a di ba je,” Malema said in a tweet.
Cosatu and the South African Communist Party are also yet to comment, but both endorsed Ramaphosa to be the new ANC president during his campaign.