Nyoni has thrown his weight behind President Cyril Ramaphosa’s bid for a second term.
He feels that corruption has robbed society of many good opportunities and that a man like Ramaphosa is fit enough to turn things around.
ANC senior member Peter Nyoni wants David Mabuza to again deputise President Cyril Ramaphosa after the party’s December 2022 national elective congress.
The congress looks set to be a two-way race between Ramaphosa and tourism minister Lindiwe Sisulu who has also thrown her hat in the ring for the position of ANC President.
Suspended secretary-general Ace Magashule, who also eyes the position of President, may not be permitted by the ANC to contest until he solves his corruption case that he is faced with at the Mangaung court, which may happen after the congress.
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Mabuza may himself face other contestants for the post of deputy president, like his former spokesperson who is now justice minister Ronald Lamola, defence minister Thandi Modise and his ally treasurer-general Paul Mashatile who are said to be lobbied for the post of ANC deputy president.
However, Nyoni said Mabuza, his own rival, should be given a second chance and lead again as the deputy president.
“He has done some good, some not so good — but our responsibility is to improve on that,” Nyoni said when he spoke to national weekly the Mail & Guardian.
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“We are what we are because of Mabuza. His leadership style has sharpened us. All the complex journeys that we travelled in the province have made us better than we were yesterday — we owe him a lot,” he told the national weekly.
Nyoni guns for the ANC position of provincial chairperson in Mpumalanga. He was appointed deputy director-general by Premier Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane when she got rid of Mabuza’s loyalists to align her government with only her allies.
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Last year October, just a few weeks to the November 2021 local government elections, Nyoni campaigned in the eMbalenhle township in Secunda, one of Mpumalanga’s badly-run municipalities, and urged residents to pin their hope on Ramaphosa as he was fixing the system that has been run down by corrupt comrades.
“We have admitted to our people that things have not been going well in the past years but now there is a leader like President Ramaphosa who is restoring the system,” he told 013NEWS on the side-line of the door-to-door campaign, adding that the contentious step-aside rule is important in restoring lost trust in public institutions.
Nyoni said corruption has robbed the majority of people of many good opportunities and a man like Ramaphosa is just fit to turn the tides around for the better.
Asked whether he didn’t believe that the step-aside rule is used to target political opponents, Nyoni answered the 013NEWS reporter: “I may not have seen that”.
“Obviously there will be those who will fight back when they are shaken from their comfortable space but President Ramaphosa is coming good and our voters can see that,” Nyoni said.
Last year, one of Mabuza’s loyalists in the Gert Sibande region, David ‘Mdavu’ Nhlabathi told 013NEWS that they would support Ramaphosa but only if Mabuza continues to be his deputy.
(edited by ZK)
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