President Cyril Ramaphosa has warned that the ANC faces problems at the polls in 2019 if it does not fix its internal problems, Daily Maverick reported. Addressing a National Union of Mineworkers Congress in Boksburg on Friday, Ramaphosa also reportedly called for "mixed" leadership to be elected so as to avoid a "winner-takes-all" situation.
He reportedly said: "It must end because we've got a very huge task ahead of us which is the 2019 elections. We cannot go into those elections when we are divided. When we are fighting among ourselves. Our people will never take us seriously. So unity, therefore, is imperative. We must be united if we want to win the 2019 elections. Without that unity, comrades, we will not be able to run an effective campaign."
The ANC's national executive committee (NEC) met earlier this month to discuss problems in its provincial structures. It faced leadership conflicts and court challenges in the Free State, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and North West.
Limpopo premier Stan Mathabatha was re-elected as ANC chairperson unopposed.
But a court challenge over the election of the leadership still looms, according to Eyewitness News.
At the ANC conference in Limpopo on Sunday, Ramaphosa reportedly said "principled unity" was the only way to fix the party's problems. He reportedly called for "mixed leadership" and said a "winner-takes-all approach" was a "recipe for disaster".
"If some of us are driven by other interests such as self-advancement and plundering of resources of the people of the country then unity in the ANC will always be sacrificed."
He reportedly said the party had to concern itself now with fixing itself internally.
"The ANC is now seized with improving our own internal processes to make it impossible for manipulation of processes aimed at achieving a predetermined electoral outcome. We need to do this to curb this newfound sport and passion of people who always want to take the ANC to court," he said.
According to The Citizen, Ramaphosa welcomed the newly elected leadership of the ANC in Limpopo.
But he warned that the leadership collective was still representative of a faction, and told delegates that the people who elected them are only interested "in how you intend to better their lives".