African National Congress(ANC) President Cyril Ramaphosa is concerned that the division in the party is a major contributing factor to South Africans moving away from it. He says this during his delivery of the political rep t at the 55th Elective Conference hosted in Nasrec. The start of the conference saw tensions high with Ramaphosa calling on all delegates to respect proceedings and to respect the conference. Despite his request, delegates were unruly interrupting the president during his report delivery. National Chairperson Gwede Mantashe attempted to address the delegates who then shouted "rest Gwede rest!"

CALLING FOR UNITY

Addressing a room full of ANC members dressed in red, black, and gold, Ramaphosa says he often engages with party members who often tell him they are united but it is the top leadership that causes division amongst them. "We need to acknowledge that we are not cohesive or effective as we should be," he says."Our disunity continues at the expense of the support that we should get from the people of South Africa because when our people see us disunited; they walk away from us because they only gravitate towards the ANC when they see that its leadership is united with its membership united and cohesive, it's leadership is not at each other's throats and does not attack each other on public platforms," Ramaphosa adds. From the deliberations and resolutions of the 55th Conference, he adds, they must ensure that they use the work of the State Capture Commission to consolidate and intensify the efforts against state capture. "Our clearest instructions from the 54th National Conference were to end state capture and tackle corruption within their ranks, within government, and across society. Since then, we have taken decisive measures to end state capture, restore state-owned enterprises, rebuild public institutions and enable the criminal justice system to pursue the perpetrators of corruption."

HONOURING THE LATE

PresidentRamaphosa ensures that those responsible for state capture must be located and face the full might of the law. "We know that there will be resistance, but this must strengthen our resolve so we can protect and advance the gains of our revolution," he says. Ramaphosa paid tribute to the late Chris Hani, saying that it was a shame that his killer, Janusz Walus, was released on parole.