Cape Town - ANC Western Cape secretary Faiez Jacobs has referred to Cyril Ramaphosa, the man former president Nelson Mandela said was his preferred successor as the new Nelson Mandela who will save and restore the party.
Jacobs said : “He is the new Mandela, it took me a long time to get that but he is the new Mandela. He will practicalise the rainbow nation, we have hope in him that he will get our economy sorted,”.
Cyril Ramaphosa won by 179 votes more than Dlamini Zuma, who had received 2 261 votes. Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza won the deputy presidency of the party by a landslide, gaining 2 538 votes.
Jacobs said the ANC in the Western Cape was reaping benefits of campaigning for Ramaphosa for eight months.
“We in the Western cape are very ecstatic, we are excited we have worked hard for this leadership. We are very hopeful, you could also see the rand is automatically improving so it's not just the whole of the Western Cape but also the economic front. It is a strong indication that he will bring and restore confidence,” said Jacobs.
The rand rallied to a nine-month high under R12.60 to the US dollar as news broke that Ramaphosa won the ANC leadership race but weakened on Tuesday morning.
Jacobs said he is hopeful that Ramaphosa will help clean up the organisation of corrupt leaders and modernise it to ensure that the ANC has a place and space for every race.
He said the Western Cape delegation have done their job properly in representing and executing the mandate of their branches. He however said that those who are using the organisation as a vehicle to further their personal interests will be dealt with.
“Those who have been using ANC as a vehicle in their regions, we are putting them on warning that if they don’t work for the interests of people, their days are numbered. We are going to restore the organisation, every leader of region or branch will be occupied with representing our people,” he said.
“We are very proud of our delegates and branches, we executed the mandate of the branches. It will be a long journey of changing the organisation, it hasn't been easy because some people have interests,” he added.
The ANC is set to resolve a dispute over missing votes in plenary. According to inside sources, there is a dispute on votes involves 68 delegates who voted but their votes were not found on the roll.