Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

South African leader urges his ANC party to fight corruption

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has urged his party, the ruling African National Congress, to fight corruption

Mogomotsi Magome
Tuesday 20 December 2022 11:47 EST

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has urged his party, the ruling African National Congress, to fight corruption.

“We have no choice, we either deal with corruption or we perish,” said Ramaphosa Tuesday, closing the ANC's conference where he was reelected its leader. ”Corruption within our party is, indeed, a dire threat."

Ramaphosa's reelection as the party’s leader was a major victory following a spirited campaign by his rivals to elect former Health Minister Zweli Mkhize.

Although he campaigned as a fighter against corruption, Ramaphosa has recently been dogged by scandal himself. He's been facing calls to step down after a parliamentary report said he may have broken currency regulations by keeping undeclared sums of dollars at his farm.

Last week Ramaphosa survived a parliamentary vote to start an impeachment process. His reelection as ANC leader paves the way for him to run for a second term as South Africa’s president in national elections in 2024.

According to Ramaphosa, unity within the party is necessary to deal with South Africa's daunting array of problems including nationwide power cuts of more than 7 hours per day and an unemployment rate of 35%.

Cabinet minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, one of the members of parliament who defied the ANC and voted in favor of impeachment proceedings against Ramaphosa, may face party disciplinary action for his disobedience. After Ramaphosa's reelection as party leader she said she hoped for a better ANC.

“I hope that the future can be better for the ANC, that it can be stronger and that it can be more responsive to the people, that we can serve the people better," said Dlamini-Zuma on the sidelines of the conference. “I hope that the people can trust the ANC.”

The leadership race took up virtually all the time of the 5-day ANC conference and delegates did not have time to debate and adopt new policies. Nor has it announced the results of the vote to elect the 80 members of the National Executive Committee.

The conference will reconvene in January to finalize its policy reports, newly-elected secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said Tuesday. The conference experienced major delays during the registration of delegates.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in