(ANSA) - CAPE TOWN, DECEMBER 16 - In South Africa, party leader Cyril Ramaphosa opened the 55th Congress of the African National Congress (ANC) with noisy protests, which in any case should reconfirm the South African president at the helm of the historic government formation, despite has just escaped an impeachment for the story of slush funds hidden in a sofa.
Opening his introductory speech, Ramaphosa was silenced by chanting, 'howling' and banging on tables by delegates from the province of Kwa-Zulu Natal - a small group that got even louder when Jacob Zuma, the former president and opponent of internal, who announced that he had filed a criminal complaint against Ramaphosa.
In Nasrec, south of Johannnesburg, the President closed his speech which lasted over two hours by asking delegates to demonstrate discipline and "political conscience" instead of indulging in howls as they did today.
The public session closed with Ramaphosa raising his fist expiring an old slogan of the anti-apartaheid resistance: "Amandla" (Power).
Sessions will be held behind closed doors starting tonight and will conclude on December 20 with the announcement of the appointment of 6 members of the new executive council that will lead the party for the next five years.
Ramaphosa is vying for a second term at the head of the oldest liberation movement on the African continent which however;
in recent years, he is plagued by scandals, corruption and inefficiency.
If reappointed, he would also be a candidate for a second term as president of South Africa, provided the ANC wins the 2024 elections.
In his speech, the president described as worrying that in the last regional elections, the ANC fell below the 50%.
Ramaphosa's opening speech, which should have started at nine this morning, was delayed by almost seven hours: mainly due to problems in registering the 4,722 delegates from the nine provinces of South Africa but also partly due to pro-Zuma protests.
(HANDLE).
