Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa is walking a tightrope after finally declaring his intention to contest the ANC leadership and taking the battle to President Jacob Zuma’s camp.
The battle for the soul of the ANC has taken a dramatic turn. Just a few hours after tripartite alliance leaders, including Gwede Mantashe and Blade Nzimande, hit out at Zuma, the deputy president joined the call for a judicial commission into state capture allegations.
Ramaphosa used the memorial lecture of slain SACP leader Chris Hani in the Eastern Cape to charge that the organisation could not be used to cover those who were guilty of wrongdoing.
Ramaphosa’s speech at the Babs Mandlakane Hall in Uitenhage could be seen as the point when he finally took the battle to Zuma. He let rip at the memorial lecture, charging that state capture allegations had to be investigated as “we cannot allow this rot to fester”.
Today, he and Mantashe will come face to face with Zuma during what is set to be a heated weekly meeting of officials.
Ramaphosa admitted that many no longer saw the ANC as representing their hopes. The deputy president’s chief lobbyists told Independent Media that, as much as he understood he had to come out, he was managing a delicate situation.
“People have been asking him, saying ‘comrade, you are too quiet and the others are busy campaigning’. Cyril, unlike Dlamini Zuma, is the deputy president of the ANC and a top six member, so he faces a moral and ethical dilemma,” the lobbyist said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Another source close to Ramaphosa said he wanted his campaign to be different from his rival, former AU Commission head Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.
At the weekend, Mantashe warned against showing those marching the middle finger, in what was also a missive directed at Zuma. Nzimande also charged at the weekend that the country was being sold to the Guptas.