Cyril Ramaphosa confident ANC will be victorious

ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa says he has no doubts that his party will emerge victorious in Wednesday’s national and provincial elections.

Ramaphosa cast his vote at the Hitekani Primary School in Chiawelo, Soweto, where he grew up.

He voted at the school, which was heavily guarded by police and presidential protection unit, in front of local and international media.

A confident Ramaphosa, with his wife, Tshepo Motsepe, at his side, said South Africans would install his party as the governing party again.

“The people of SA will give the ANC — as they vote today — a firm majority. So in my mind, in my head, in my thought processes there isn’t even a doubt about that,” said Ramaphosa.

He said his party had run a successful campaign as all its leaders and former leaders criss-crossed the country canvassing votes.

The embattled ANC is defending itself on all fronts with several political parties hoping to take a chunk out of the majority it has been enjoying since the advent of democracy.

“The ANC under my leadership ran a formidable campaign. We went through the length and breadth of the country to reach out to our people and to also make those who may well have been doubtful about voting to be encouraged to vote,” said Ramaphosa.

He said democracy would be the biggest winner in the elections and he expected the ANC to be the biggest benefactor of this process.

“We were rather pleased that we saw more and more young people registering to vote and we kept urging the people of our country that we want to run a clean campaign, which we did, and we are determined to ensure that democracy is the winner in this election,” he said.

“In the end, it is the democratic process in our country that is going to emerge victorious and the ANC will reap a dividend from all that by emerging as the winning party.”

TimesLIVE