EFF statement on the confirmation by the ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula that Cyril Ramaphosa had resigned as president of South Africa

10 January 2024

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) is not surprised by the confirmation by the Secretary General of the African National Congress (ANC), Fikile Mbalula, that Cyril Ramaphosa had resigned as the President of South Africa, and was stopped from doing so by a faction within the ruling party.

His resignation came after the scathing findings of the Section 89 Independent Panel to Investigate Phala Phala Farm, which found that he may have violated the Constitution and his oath of office.

In an address to ANC supporters at Mjindi Town Hall, Barberton in Mpumalanga as part of their 112th Year Anniversary celebrations, Mbalula made reference to the fact that Cyril Ramaphosa was not a difficult President, and in fact he had at one point resolved that he was leaving his position as the President, only to be apprehended by what can only be determined as the senior leadership of the ANC.

This damning revelation, made by the custodian of the membership of the ANC and intermediary between the party and its deployed members to government, in the form of the Secretary General, confirms to the nation that we have a President who has no commitment to his office.

On the 28th of February 2023, at the EFF Media Launch ahead of the 10th Anniversary of the EFF, CIC Julius Malema revealed this truth to South Africans, characterizing Ramaphosa as being present only in body, while his soul and consciousness was no longer interested in being the President of the Republic.

This naked truth, was framed as conspiracy and rumour mongering, by a government and ruling party that is prone to lies. It is the same ruling party that claimed that Ramaphosa had never considered resigning, through its National Chairperson Gwede Mantashe, and this sentiment was reiterated by the South African Presidency Spokesperson, who vowed that Ramaphosa would fight the findings of the report and would not resign.

The fight against the findings of the report, meant that the ruling party would corruptly use its parliamentary majority, to vote against the establishment of an impeachment committee to look into the recommendations of the Section 89 Panel, which found that there was prima facie evidence that Cyril Ramaphosa violated his oath of office.

The EFF is vindicated in being an organization that is constantly on the side of the truth, no matter how unpopular it may be, and despite the mobilization of state- resources and right-wing media, to frame the truth as conspiracy.

It is patently clear that Ramaphosa has no interest in being the President of South Africa, and this can be seen by the lack of appetite he has to resolve the numerous challenges facing our nation. The demeanour and attitude of Cyril Ramaphosa, how he talks, how he walks and how he conducts himself, is that of a man who no longer has an interest in the responsibilities that come with being the President of a nation.

Ramaphosa's failures can be attributed to the fact that he long resigned from being the leader of our nation. His incapacity and reluctance to resolve challenges such as load-shedding, unemployment, landlessness, high levels of crime, Gender-Based Violence and an economy that is on the brink of collapse, are indicative of a man who is no longer interested in his job.

The Office of the President of South Africa is occupied by a shell of a man, who is only in office to pursue a factional agenda and because he had to be convinced by a faction in the ruling party to remain. The Secretary General of the ANC has confirmed this undeniable fact.

The EFF wishes to assure Ramaphosa that in the Provincial and National Elections of 2024, we will relieve him of the burden the factions of the ANC have placed on his shoulders, by fulfilling his wish to resign through a decisive EFF victory on the ballot.

South Africa deserves a government that is led by people who have a desire to do so, not by empty shells whose greatest desire is to escape the responsibility of being the President of our nation.

Issued by Sinawo Thambo, National Spokesperson, EFF, 11 January 2024