The resignation of Ramaphosa as president of South Africa was one of the demonstrators’ top demands in light of the president’s mounting personal problems, which included the alleged theft of $4 million from his Phala Phala farm.
On Friday, over 300 demonstrators, the majority of whom were African National Congress (ANC) members, marched through Johannesburg, South Africa’s commercial center, to submit a list of demands and make a call for a new president at the headquarters of the ruling party.
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s removal was justified in part by the rising cost of living, gasoline price increases, frequent power outages, and widespread corruption in government institutions.
The annual consumer price inflation rate climbed from 5.9 percent in April to 6.5 percent in May, according to Statistics South Africa (Stats SA). The most recent numbers indicate potential danger for the nation as consumer price inflation has risen above the South African Reserve Bank’s goal range of 3 to 6 percent.
With a 34.5 percent unemployment rate, South Africa is no exception. Many unemployed young people blame immigrants for removing their economic chances, which has fueled the growth of xenophobic organizations like Operation Dudula.
However, the protestors’ primary demand was the resignation of Ramaphosa as president due to a growing number of personal scandals, such as the alleged theft of $4 million from his Phala Phala Wildlife farm hidden in his furniture.
By soliciting the cooperation of Namibian officials and his personal security detail, who is accused of kidnapping and torturing the thieves, Ramaphosa is accused of covering up the heist.
“The first of many protests to come”
It was “the first of many protests to come,” according to Carl Niehaus, the march’s organizer and a senior member of the now-disbanded Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKVA), a group that represented former members of the ANC’s anti-apartheid military wing.
He told Al Jazeera over the phone that “this march is the result of great dissatisfaction with a president who has failed his country and has shown himself to conduct himself in a criminal manner.
“He would have already been fired in any other democracy. His farmhouse was the scene of torture, which included a female housekeeper. Although gender-based violence is a severe issue in South Africa, the country’s president is allegedly involved in acts of violence against women, according to Niehaus.
We have no other choice since we are ANC members, he continued. The ANC members are saying enough is enough by marching because “we demand responsibility from the leadership.”
Ramaphosa’s time is up, Supra Mahumapelo, the former premier of the North West province, declared to jeering demonstrators.
“President Ramaphosa may be ousted by the ANC’s National Executive Committee. I attended the meeting that was all it took to get rid of Jacob Zuma, stated Mahumapelo. “Our populace is starving. The lives of our people must be improved under a new president.
“An early decision must be made for the government to generate food and promote horticulture in order to end hunger. In response to claims that Ramaphosa favors the private sector, Mahumapelo remarked, “All we need is the land and the appropriate leadership.
Mahumapelo claims that the ANC’s disgruntled members will create a committee with representatives from each of the country’s nine provinces and that they have given the ANC’s national executives “seven days to meet and consider the removal of President Ramaphosa.”
“Des Van Rooyen”
Pule Mabe, the ANC’s national spokesperson, declined all requests for comment.
Des Van Rooyen, a former finance minister who joined the demonstration, urged the ANC members to return to their branches with “resolutions that hold those in authority accountable” before the December elective conference.
The most peculiar thing, according to Van Rooyen, is that they want us, the ANC members, to let the people we elected attend the upcoming policy conference without evaluating how well they did in Nasrec.
