RUSTENBURG - African National Congress president Cyril Ramaphosa on Saturday appealed for ANC unity in the North West ahead of the 2019 general elections on May 8.
"North West is the home of the ANC, even when we have difficulties we see that you are committed to the ANC," he told a provincial elections manifesto launch rally in Rustenburg.
"The ANC Nasrec [national] conference directed us to unite the ANC, renew the ANC, and to grow the economy to create jobs. The NEC [National Executive Committee] is working with the leaders who were in the provincial task team and those in the provincial executive committee [PEC] preparing for the election," he said.
He called on party members to work together to win the election. Cracks emerged in the North West when former premier Supra Mahumapelo was forced to resign by a mass protest of disgruntled residents.
A wave of violent protests ripped through the North West in April 2018 calling on Mahumapelo to resign. He eventually stepped down in May and Job Mokgoro was elected premier.
The PEC, chaired by Mahumapelo, was disbanded and a provincial task team [PTT] was appointed. Mahumapelo resigned from the PTT and joined others who had approached the courts seeking to reinstate the PEC. The court later ruled in their favour.
Appealing for peace, Ramaphosa said all other issues would be attended to after the general election in May.