We want our money back, Ramaphosa warns state looters
Johannesburg - "We want our money back'', presidential hopeful Cyril Ramaphosa said to families who have looted the country.
Speaking during an OR Tambo Memorial Lecture in Nkone Maruping Primary school in Soweto on Saturday, Ramaphosa warned that the party would get its money back from a specific family.
"We must go back and say to certain families, we want our money back."
The deputy president's statement is a thinly veiled warning to the Gupta family which has been associated with multiple state owned entities in the #GuptaLeaks.
The Gupta brothers are reported to have received kickbacks from Eskom and Prasa and have been accused of influencing key Cabinet positions such as treasury and public enterprises.
Ramaphosa was treated to warm welcome. He said Tambo was an exemplary leader who would want the African National Congress to reclaim its status as a glorious movement.
"We must be determined to get rid of factions within the ANC. We must get rid of divisions within the ANC. We must be able to identify those who want divide our movement and say not in our name. We need to choose leaders that will not divide the ANC," he said.
Policy implementation
Ramaphosa said the party needed to listen to its people and those who critique the movement.
"We must listen to the concerns of our people without dismissing them. When people see something wrong, there is something wrong. When our people see corruption it means there is corruption. When our people see that their resources are being stolen by certain people it means this is happening and we should listen."
He praised the party's policies, but however, said the ANC needed to sharpen its leadership beyond its elective conference in order to implement them.
"We have all the good policies, all right visions, but the problem is implementation. When we come out of national conference, we want those leaders we have chosen to be those who can implement policies."
Ramaphosa has been at full steam, campaigning to become president of the ANC as the party heads to its elective conference in December.
He is pitted against former African Union Commission Chair Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma who also held a rally in Alexandra in Johannesburg on Saturday.
The ANC declared 2017 as the year of OR Tambo. Several party leaders have travelled across the country delivering lectures as part of ANC's celebration of its longest serving president. - News24
ANC not immune to patriarchal attitudes
Johannesburg - Courts must make ensure that cases of abuse against women and children must be handled to finality, deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa said on Saturday in Soweto.
Ramaphosa was addressing a hall filled with African National Congress women supporters during the OR Tambo lecture. He said courts must be deal with cases related to women abuse vigorously until it is concluded and the perpetrators convicted.
Ramaphosa endorsed suggestions made by South African Democratic Union (Sadtu) earlier in the day. He marched to the Moroka Police station in Kliptown along with Sadtu members to handover a memorandum of demands.
"Sadtu came up with proposals that have to do with how police must deal with issues of women and children. When a woman comes to police station to report a case of abuse, she must not be turned back," he said.
On Thursday, Higher Education deputy minister Mduduzi Manana appeared in the Randburg Magistrate's Court in Johannesburg on two charges of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.
Equal opportunities
He was granted R5 000 bail. The charges stem from a video posted on social media which shows Manana allegedly assaulting a woman.
Ramaphosa spoke of the need to ensure that women had equal opportunities in the ANC as well as in government and the private sector.
He said while the ANC under its former president OR Tambo had made great strides in the emancipation of women, more needed to be done.
"Tambo led the support of the highest office in our movement to the struggles that were fought by women over many years for equal representation and due respect. He challenged patriarchal attitude of men for many years. Women have a duty to liberate us as men from outdated concept and attitudes about the place and role," he said.
Ramaphosa admitted that previously the ANC's approach to gender equality was outdated and it was not as progressive as it is now.
He said in the ANC there was a "glass ceiling" for women.
"Many of the key positions in the ANC were dominated by men. Women were held back. They were put in the back; all they did was secretarial work and so forth."
He said Tambo took the ANC by the scruff of its neck to recognise and respect the role of women in the ANC. "It is for this reason that today we thank Tambo for having been a visionary leader,'' he said.
''We are not immune to the patriarchal attitudes that exist in society. Generally men are still seen as though they are far better than women,'' he said.
"It is a cause for concern that despite improvements in educational qualifications women still occupy few senior positions in government; even fewer in the private sector."
Top positions
The employment equity figures only show that only 2% of women occupy top positions while only 33% are in senior leadership positions, he said.
Ramaphosa said more than half of those positions are occupied by white women and argued that this needed to change if we were to build a non-racial society.
Ramaphosa is contesting for ANC presidency against Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. She has been endorsed by the ANC Women's League.
Many in the ANC have said that the party was ready for a female leader. During the local elections in 2016, the ANCWL complained that women did not receive equal representation in council lists.
