Addressing delegates before the adjournment of the ANC 55th elective conference on Tuesday, a visibly happy President Cyril Ramaphosa entered the plenary at Nasrec with the party’s new deputy president, Paul Mashatile, at his side.
Joining them was the two new deputy secretaries Nomvula Mokonyane and Maropene Ramokgopa alongside the new treasurer, Dr. Gwen Ramokgopa.
Ramaphosa was all smiles while the youthful choir sang next to the stage.
Many delegates cheered when new secretary-general Fikile Mbalula acknowledged his leadership, singing his praises with placards from Free State, Limpopo, Gauteng, Northern Cape and Eastern Cape raised aloft.
KwaZulu-Natal delegates were, however, not visible in the plenary hall, and this was as a result of the big loss the province had suffered.
SACP and Cosatu officials were also in the hall, including former presidents, Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe.
Ramaphosa acknowledged former ANC president Jacob Zuma, who did not attend the closing remarks of the ANC president.
“We are going to continue with the finalisation of this conference on 5 January 2022 in a hybrid fashion. As conference is finalised on the 5th of January, we will also be hosting the January 8 celebration in Mangaung. This conference is going to continue to solidify our unity as the movement. The branches have spoken by choosing the leadership that will take this movement forward. There is no other reason for ANC other than to unite and work for the people of this country. We have chosen a renewal and restoration of our movement, and we are on the right path to build this glorious ANC. The path of the principled unity is what we believe in. We also came with different proposals and, finally, we came up as a unity. And this is despite an act of others who wanted us to fail. The discipline among the delegates was great, the branches have spoken and made their choice on who should the leadership be,” said Ramaphosa.
He added that the ANC had its own flaws and had paid hard in many ways.
“As ANC, we have made mistakes and paid for such in many ways. Even after finding ourselves on the brink of collapse, we stood up and pushed ourselves back. There is no other reason for the existence of the ANC but to mobilise, unite and rebuild our nation. This conference has provided guidance for our structures in government to end gender-based violence and femicide. This conference has committed to build the better country and the better Africa,” added Ramaphosa.
He said that it is great progress to have women represented in the top seven leadership.
“We need to advocate for equality in all our structures in terms of participation, roles and structures. The equality that we speak of must be practiced by the ANC. We recognise that corruption in the ANC is a serious threat in our movement. We also acknowledge that we have not done enough to address the issues and adversity of corruption,’ he said.
Delegates sang “Phakama Ramaphosa” after he had ended his speech, concluding with the national anthem.
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