ANC not arrogant, self-serving, says Ramaphosa

African National Congress deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa says that contrary to what people may think, the ANC is not an arrogant, self-serving political organisation.

Pretoria - African National Congress deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday said, unlike what many South Africans think, his party was not an arrogant, self-serving political organisation.

“The ANC, as opposed to what many people may believe, they think we are arrogant, self-centered, self-serving and I would like like to dispute all that by saying we are a listening organisation,” Ramaphosa told a scrum of reporters at the ANC desk in the IEC’s results operations centre in Tshwane.

“We are going to listen to our people – both those who have voted overwhelmingly for the ANC and those who did not vote for the ANC. Therein (results of the polls) lies an important message that we, as the ANC, must also listen to. So this has been an election where sensible political parties have given themselves a time to listen.”

Ramaphosa was initially taken on a walkabout by senior IEC management at the national results operations centre. During the tour, he declined to answer questions pertaining to the ANC’s performance in the polls.

Moments later, Ramaphosa joined several ANC leaders including secretary-general Gwede Mantashe and deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte at the ANC desk, which was situated among other political parties.

After being briefed by Duarte, Ramaphosa said it was still too early to comment on the election as results were still trickling in.

“The results for the metros are still being finalised as far as I can see. I think it would be unwise for anyone to give a definitive conclusion on how the metros are going to pan out. Let’s wait, I think it’s a matter of waiting for a few hours before we see how Tshwane, Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni will go. Thereafter, we will be able to give a view,” said Ramaphosa.

“This is not a cliche, but the ANC remains hopeful that we will emerge as the leading party in those metros, based on the numbers of people, almost 15 million people out of the 26 million registered voters. This is a phenomenal achievement. It is an achievement that can not be dismissed,” said Ramaphosa.

“Out of the 213 municipalities, we already have 142 of those declared as ANC municipalities. Let’s wait until the story of the metros comes out.”

African News Agency