Ramaphosa Overshadowed by SACP and Cosatu at ANC Policy Conference, President Warns ANC Is Losing Support

• The ANC's policy conference is underway and instead of the usual frenzied support President Ramaphosa received a muted response after he delivered his opening address
• The president identified some key areas that the ANC needed to focus on, he singled out local government as the ANC's greatest weakness
• Solly Mapaila of the SACP and Cosatu's Zingiswa Losi were far better received by the delegates when they addressed their concerns about the state of the ANC

JOHANNESBURG - President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered the opening address at the ANC's policy conference. However, instead of the raucous applause that usually accompanies the conference, Ramaphosa received a muted response from delegates.

Solly Mapaila of the SACP and Cosatu's Zingiswa Losi were far better received by the delegates when they addressed their concerns about the state of the ANC.

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News24 reported that Ramaphosa warned the ruling party that they were losing support due to poor accountability, oversight, fraud and corruption. The president identified local government as the weakest point and said that instead of improving the situation was regressing.

He said that this led to the ANC's recent defeat in several key metros and the diminishing voter turnout and loss of support according to Reuters.

Ramaphosa did not want the party to ignore corruption for a sense of false unity within the party. He talked tough and said that the ANC's role in society was not a given and needed to be earned.

Mapaila had harsh words for the ANC, he said that the party was in turmoil and had to urgently sort itself out. He also said that the party was not doing enough to change the mandate of the SA Reserve Bank in order to help with the unemployment crisis.

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Losi said that the party needed to renew its values of unity, honesty and constructive criticism. She lashed out at ANC ministers who received a 3% salary increase while public sector workers' request for a wage hike was rejected.

Ramaphosa says the step-aside rule is here to stay despite calls to scrap it

Earlier, Briefly News reported that the African National Congress's policy conference kicked off on Friday, 29 July, in Nasrec, Johannesburg, with President Cyril Ramaphosa taking a swipe at the mounting calls to get rid of the step-aside resolution.

While delivering the keynote address, Ramaphosa stated that it would not be possible to turn back on the resolution that forces ANC members to step aside from their position when facing criminal charges.

The step aside rule was adopted at the ANC's 54th national conference as a means to tackle corruption, according to SowetanLIVE. Several provinces such as Limpopo, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal have been against the step-aside resolution and sought to use the policy conference as a means to get it revoked.

Source: Briefly News