‘Cyril Ramaphosa is the president SA needs,’ says Oscar Mabuyane after winning Eastern Cape ANC elections

Cape Town – The newly re-elected Eastern Cape African National Congress (ANC) chairperson Oscar Mabuyane has reportedly endorsed President Cyril Ramaphosa for a second term.

According to EWN, Mabuyane said that Ramaphosa must avail himself for a second term during the party’s national elective conference in December.

“He (Mabuyane) said Ramaphosa had championed renewal of the governing party and he must be given another five years to focus on this task.

“Mabuyane said Ramaphosa was the president the country needed and the ANC leadership in that province would make sure that he was re-elected to ensure unity and transformation of the party,” the report said.

Out of the 1 477 votes cast, Mabuyane managed to secure 812 while his opponent Babalo Madikizela only managed to get 662 votes.

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Mabuyane hailed Ramaphosa for being courageous enough to have taken major steps towards organisational renewal, Daily Maverick reported.

“I know the people of the Eastern Cape including the members of the ANC in the Eastern Cape would like to see the president moving forward. This country needs the calibre of a president.

“President Cyril Ramaphosa is one president … this downward spiral trend is not something that just came overnight, we have been seeing it over time. Surely anyone who is serious about the country, serious about the future of our people cannot think far from a person like President Cyril Ramaphosa,” the report quoted Mabuyane as saying.

EWN said that this was a significant boost to Ramaphosa’s re-election campaign because the ANC in the Eastern Cape was the governing party’s second biggest province after KwaZulu-Natal.

Ramaphosa so far has the backing of three provinces in the bag – the others being Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape.

According to IOL, the ANC’s Eastern Cape elective conference took place over the weekend and had been expected to wrap up on Sunday.

However, it was marred by disruptions.

The ruling party spent Sunday dealing with the issue of credentials. It was stuck on the question of credentials of some of the branch delegates for hours until they were adopted by delegates.

Take a look at some of the captured moments: