PHUTI MOSOMANE
FREE STATE Premier Sisi Ntombela said ANC members in the province – once a stronghold of former ANC Secretary-General Ace Magashule – have put their differences aside and worked hard to ensure President Cyril Ramaphosa’s January 8 celebrations were properly organised.
“Look around Mr President and see how the Free State has worked this week to organise mini-rallies and the night’s gala dinner to demonstrate to you that they are happy that you are back [as ANC President],” said Ntombela during the ANC’s gala dinner at the Imvelo Safarir Lodge in Reddersburg, Mangaung.
Ntombela, a former ally of Magashule, said despite differences that played out in the public in which two competing factions held regional rallies in Mangaung, bona fide ANC members in the province have done everything to ensure Ramaphosa ‘feels at home’.
Ramaphosa is expected to deliver his sixth January 8 statement at the Dr Molemela Stadium on Sunday.
The annual statement is the party’s programme of action for the year.
On Saturday night, the ANC Progressive Business Forum (PBF) held a fund-raising gala dinner at the Imvelo Safari Lodge in Bloemfontein, where the highest package of a seat at Ramaphosa’s table cost R2 million.
“We learn from this history that the achievement of a united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa requires the involvement of all sections of our society. That is why the Progressive Business Forum is so important to the mission of the ANC,” said Ramaphosa.
“The PBF brings together businesspeople from companies both large and small who share our commitment to the fundamental transformation of our economy and society. It is significant that we have returned here to Mangaung, the birthplace of the ANC, to celebrate this occasion. The people who gathered here to found this great movement were from all walks of life.”
INSIDE POLITICS
