By Zintle Mahlati.
President Cyril Ramaphosa insists he has a good relationship with Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma, despite the two former presidents publicly criticising his leadership recently.
Ramaphosa, for the first time on Sunday, addressed the lingering perception that Mbeki and Zuma may be unhappy with his presidency of the ANC and the country.
The three men met on Saturday at the official coronation ceremony of Zulu King Misuzulu ka Zwelithini.
Ramaphosa addressed a crowd of supporters at KwaMoko, Debe Nek, in the Eastern Cape on Sunday as part of the ANC’s Letsema campaign.
He said he firmly believed internal party issues, including unhappiness about his leadership, should be discussed within ANC structures.
Ramaphosa said: All leaders were there (at the recognition ceremony) and were all united. There was no fighting and talking bad about each other. I also saw Thabo Mbeki, and it was nice. I saw comrade Zuma, and it was nice. There were no problems, and there should be no problems among us as leaders of the ANC. We should talk all the time, and if there is a problem, we talk about it at home.
Mbeki had spoken at an event last Saturday, cautioning the ANC to begin discussions on what steps the party would take if Ramaphosa is found to have a case to answer regarding the Phala Phala matter.
The former president repeated similar warnings when he met with the ANC in Limpopo who expressed their unhappiness with what they viewed as an attack on Ramaphosa.
In a press conference last week, Zuma accused Ramaphosa of corruption in relation to the Phala Phala matter.
Another former president, and deputy president of the ANC, Kgalema Motlanthe, had also raised concerns over Ramaphosa’s leadership in recent weeks.
The critique on Ramaphosa and the looming questions surrounding his handling of the February 2020 robbery at his Limpopo farm continue to haunt his ambitions for a second term as ANC president.
The ANC is holding its national leadership conference in December and its members are racing to complete nominations before the 7 November deadline.
Ramaphosa is expected to run for a second term as president of the party.
He told eNCA on the sidelines of the campaign that as ANC members had decided in 2017, the year he was elected, the same pattern would follow this year.
“ANC members will be attending the conference, and they are the final arbiters. I cannot decide for them, and they will decide as they decided in 2017,” Ramaphosa told the broadcaster.