ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa
President Cyril Ramaphosa says South Africa has strong instruments in place to ensure there will not be any crisis if the ANC fails to outright win the 29 May elections.
“The democracy that we have crafted has enough shock absorbers and has enough ability to be able to get our people and our country through the challenges that may happen, like it did when we faced the unrest in July 2021 with Covid and many others,” Ramaphosa said in an interview with Eyewitness News on Monday.
“We are very resilient people. We are a very resilient country. So fear not about any calamity that will descend on us. The people of South Africa will not allow our democracy to descend into ashes.”
Pollsters and pundits have predicted that the ruling party will see its share of the vote dip below 50% for the first time since it took power in 1994.
A poll released by Ipsos last month predicted the ANC would get 40.2% of the votes nationally, while the Democratic Alliance would get 21.9%, the Economic Freedom Fighters 11.5% and newcomers the Umkhonto weSizwe party 8.4%.
But Ramaphosa said his party was confident it would win the elections and that he would come back after 29 May as president of the republic.
“So the ANC is going to be elected to govern this country. I will be voted back into power,” he said. “Many may not like this but it’s going to happen and I will serve my term. And serve is the operative word, serving the people of South Africa with the best that I can give the remaining years of my life.
“I’m 72 this year, and I will be prepared, willing and able to serve the people of South Africa because there’s so much that needs to be done to improve their lives.”
Ramphosa also weighed in on the ruling by the constitutional court on Monday that former president Jacob Zuma’s criminal record barred him from standing for parliament in the elections.
He said he was not concerned about the ruling, despite fears that Zuma’s supporters would protest against this decision in the same way they did when he was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment for contempt of court in 2021.
“We have a rule of law in South Africa that governs us. Once the constitutional court has decided, that is it. Should there be any threats of violence, our security forces are ready to deal with that and we will not even mince our words when it comes to something like that,” Ramaphosa said.
On Sunday, the chairperson of the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NatJoints), Lieutenant General Tebello Mosikili, said sufficient security measures had been put in place to ensure that the elections proceed without incidents of crime and disruptions.
Mosikili told the media that the Natjoints coordination centre would come into operation for the elections from Wednesday, 22 May until 9 June and would work around the clock to identify threats and vulnerabilities.