Simon Nare
President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Sunday that ANC members who also belong to the South African Communist Party (SACP) would face “consequences” if they campaigned for the SACP instead of the ANC, as he closed the Limpopo ANC’s 11th provincial conference.
Ramaphosa said the manner in which the Limpopo ANC conducted itself in holding a united conference that elected the top five — led by Premier Dr Phophi Ramathuba — should be used as a template for all party structures to demonstrate to the electorate that the ANC is capable of uniting.
Limpopo was the only province where the ANC secured more than 70% support in the 2024 national and provincial elections. Ramaphosa said the province should again lead from the front as the party heads towards the local government elections.
In a move that stood out against the factional contests that have marked many ANC structures in recent years, the province negotiated a unity slate from all five regions and agreed that Ramathuba should lead as chairperson, with Polokwane mayor John Mpe as her deputy, Reuben Madadzhe retained as provincial secretary, Pule Shayi as his deputy, and Eddie Maila as treasurer.
Ramaphosa lauded the unity.
“I want to particularly thank you for holding such a well-disciplined conference. And I am glad that your conference was not only about the election of leaders. It was a conference that was well-steeped in discussing the policies of our movement and taking resolutions to do so,” he said.
“The entire country looks up to Limpopo to perform well, and that is why even the national executive members are here in their numbers to give you support, to recognise and tell you that we take you seriously.
“So, comrades, we have got a very good foundation, a foundation of a strong ANC that is getting stronger. It is when our ANC remains united, remains stronger, that we will indeed reach higher levels,” said Ramaphosa.
He said the ANC has to renew itself to address the challenges facing the country, and called for the rebuilding of the organisation and the improvement of its ideological capacity.
He said every member of the party was duty-bound to campaign for the local government elections and called for a rethink of campaigning methods, while adding that the door-to-door approach should still be maintained.
Ramaphosa also raised the SACP’s decision to contest the 2026 local government elections independently of the ANC, a step taken at the party’s 5th Special National Congress in December 2024 and one that has deepened tensions inside the tripartite alliance.
SACP representatives deployed to deliver messages of support were booed off stage as delegates voiced anger over that decision.
Ramaphosa said that some SACP members held dual membership of both parties, but they would have to campaign for the ANC.
He added that the matter was still to be fully addressed by the ANC’s national executive committee, but that, for now, members had to toe the line.
“When I closed the NGC (national general council), I said every member of the ANC must campaign for the ANC. Now that was said by the president of the ANC and what is said by the president of the ANC becomes policy. So that is policy,” he said.
He warned that if those members who hold dual membership are seen to be campaigning for the SACP and not the ANC, they would be putting themselves at a crossroads with the ANC and there would be “consequences”.
Ramathuba, in introducing Ramaphosa to close the conference and in her acceptance speech, thanked delegates for the confidence they had placed in her to lead the province. Her election made her the first woman to lead the ANC in Limpopo.
She said the smooth running of the conference and the unopposed election of the top five was not an accident, but a political signal.
She said that uniting at the conference and electing leadership endorsed by all regions had positioned Limpopo to lead the political agenda.
“It is a political signal that Limpopo is ready to move from internal noise to collective action, ready to light the spark [and] ignite the smoke of renewal,” she said.
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