By Thys Khiba – The unexpected power outage forced the African National Congress (ANC) president Cyril Ramaphosa to cut his address short as he was about to conclude his 45-minutes-long speech at the ANC’s 110th birthday gala dinner on Friday night in Polokwane.
The power failure only affected the inside of the 1,300-capacity Makhulu Hall at The Ranch Protea Hotel.
Seats at the president’s table went for R1.2 million
The ANC treasurer-general Paul Mashatile tried to inform guests and party leaders who were inside the building that the electricity blackout was a minor “technical glitch” and viewed it as the problem of the venue managers.
Ramaphosa managed to not appear panicked by the outage, and did not immediately leave the stage after power outage.
Ramaphosa thanked the businesspeople and other guests for sticking with the ANC through its ups and downs.
Mashatile was responsible for overseeing the organization of the annual fundraising gala dinner.
There were speculations about Ramaphosa’s detractors trying to sabotage him by a power failure.
Responding to questions about what is happening in the country, Minister of Minerals and Energy department and party chairperson, Gwede Mantashe told Newzroom Afrika that some people use the freedom they are given in a democracy “to disrupt institutions of the state.”
Mantashe was unhappy about the burning of parliament and other state institutions, but didn’t want to be drawn into speculation that electricity blackouts could be ascribed to ANC factions.
“I think somebody’s mischievous. It is our responsibility as a democratic people to lead the country out of that morass,” said Mantashe.
Speaking at the gala dinner, the provincial chairperson of ANC and Limpopo’s Premier Stan Mathabatha indicated the ANC wants Ramaphosa to lead second term as the party president.
While his security detail was in a hurry to take him out of the venue for his safety purpose after the power went off, Ramaphosa continued to speak for a couple of minutes.
As the president of the 110-year-old political party, Ramaphosa admired the ANC in Limpopo for the province’s good performance in the elections. In the last year’s local government elections, Limpopo received 68.27% followed by Mpumalanga.
“I want to commend the leadership for flying the ANC flag very high in this province,” said Ramaphosa.
Ramaphosa during his speech highlighted the “arduous” but “necessary” task of renewing his political party.
“Maybe it is similar to this fable that is often talked about, how an eagle renew itself. It flies to the highest peak and takes out its talons, its feathers, and waits for regrowth,” said Ramaphosa.
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