Ramaphosa’s claim to presidency strengthened by ANC chief whip
In an attempt to save the ANC’s 2019 election campaign, Jackson Mthembu has endorsed Cyril Ramaphosa as the next president of the ruling party.
Joining an increasing number of senior ANC members, chief whip Jackson Mthembu has expressed his concern for the party’s future, particularly in the 2019 general elections.
It’s for this reason that Mthembu has thrown his weight behind Cyril Ramaphosa to succeed Jacob Zuma as the ANC and republic’s next president.
Read: Ramaphosa admits all is not well at Luthuli House as divisions within the ANC grow
The ruling party has made it clear that members are not to publicly endorse candidates, but that hasn’t stopped even Jacob Zuma from doing so. Currently the race is between Ramaphosa and Zuma’s ex wife, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who’ve both been endorsed by some pretty big wigs in the party.
Mthembu, who’s one of the ruling party’s most influential members as head of the parliamentary caucus, believes Ramaphosa should be president as it needs to be a natural progression from his role as deputy president.
“The ANC created the position of deputy president precisely so that you have a person who is ready to take over should anything happen to the president,’’ Mthembu told Fin24.
“As an ANC member, I put such a person to be deputy because I was preparing that person to be president – case closed,” Mthembu said, adding that the party could well lose the elections in 2019 – a prediction not at all unlikely, as the party’s share of the national vote fell by 7.7% to just 54.5% in the 2016 local government elections –.
“It’s only a fool who will not see that reality,” Mthembu said.
“Never in my wildest dreams, or never in any of my nightmares, did I dream that we can lose Tshwane, we can lose Johannesburg.”
“The ANC must approach this election as a step for self-correction. We must come out ready to confront in a meaningful way the malaise that is facing our organisation.”
