South Africa: New ANC KZN Leader Siboniso Duma Saves Cyril Ramaphosa From Embarrassment

By Queenin Masuabi

Less than a day after he was elected as leader of the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal, Siboniso Duma faced his first test -- to persuade conference delegates to allow party president Cyril Ramaphosa to speak without being booed, heckled or disturbed.

President Cyril Ramaphosa arrived at the Olive Convention Centre in Durban on Sunday, 24 July, after speculation about whether he would attend the ANC's provincial elective conference. Supporters of former president Jacob Zuma had expressed reservations about Ramaphosa delivering the closing address at the event.

Ramaphosa arrived just after 7pm and was welcomed by Siboniso Duma, the newly elected chairperson, and Bheki Mtolo, the new provincial secretary.

Ramaphosa walked into a plenary of ANC members who criticised him for allowing Zuma, their "beloved leader", to be jailed for being in contempt of court. As he walked in, delegates were singing Wenzeni uZuma (what has Zuma done?), which was telling of their mood.

Duma had to step in to ask delegates to not boo Ramaphosa ahead of his speech. He explained to delegates that whatever issues they had would be discussed at the party's policy conference next weekend.

"Comrade Ramaphosa as the president of the ANC is also familiar with the...

This article originally appeared in The Daily Maverick

Photo: Jairus Mmutle / GCIS / Flickr