By After the President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma gave his farewell speech during the ANC gathering, the ruling party is in a bid to decide on who will replace the former head of the party.
On Saturday 16, December 2017, President Jacob Zuma spoke to the African National Congress (ANC), the ruling party gathering, where he expressed concerns of ill discipline amongst the party members, which would in return lead to the downfall of the party, if not tackled.
‘The President blamed ill-discipline among party cadres and factionalism for the failures of the party, but made no mention of the numerous ways in which he had brought the party into disrepute over several allegations of corruption,’ sources state.
‘Petty squabbling that takes us nowhere needs to take a back seat, our people are frustrated when we spend more time fighting among ourselves instead of solving the daily challenges they experience,’ the President said, ‘Factionalism has become the biggest threat to our movement.’
The ruling party is on a five day sitting, to decide who the party’s next leader will be. The five days began immediately after President Zuma’s last political speech as the head of the party.
As the decision is yet to be made, there are two main runners and candidates that South Africans and the ruling party are looking up to, to choose Zuma’s replacement.
Cyril Ramaphosa, Zuma’s deputy president and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, an ex-cabinet minister and Zuma’s ex-wife, are the two main competitors from which the party is expected to choose.
Observers have stated that the current situation in the ANC ruling party might have the party members split in to two groups, each group in support of one of the candidate members.
However, without saying it so explicitly, Zuma made it evident that he is in favor of Dlamini-Zuma, his ex-wife, who according to the sources could protect him from prosecution over corruption charges.
Cyril Ramaphosa on the other side, is seen as a one that can help revive the country’s economy back on truck, as he continuously pledges.
South Africans are however happy about Zuma’s decision to step down, as they think he has been a head for a long time and it is time he left.
Correspondent: Shamilah Naumuddu