African National Congress (ANC) President Cyril Ramaphosa has appealed to the church to pray for upcoming general elections to run smoothly. Ramaphosa attended a Methodist Church service in Durban and was given a platform to address scores of church goers.
He was accompanied by some ANC National Executive Committee members and KwaZulu-Natal Chairperson Sihle Zikalala.
The ANC President closed off his week long’s stay in KwaZulu-Natal by attending a church service in Durban. A very relaxed Ramaphosa opened his address with jokes which got many laughing.
He has called on the churches to work together with government to make the lives of ordinary people better. Ramaphosa says he has come to the church to draw inspiration and strength.
“So today, as we come here, we come to draw inspiration from our parents; we come to draw strength from parents, because we regard you as the church, as the Methodist Church, as indeed our parent. I, particularly, like the issues that you have identified in your programme to pray for. For you are saying, let us pray for our government; let us pray for 2019 elections.”
President Ramaphosa says the ANC is learning from the mistakes that occurred in the past to build the country. He has applauded the role of the church in the liberation of the country.
“We been through pain in the past few years where it seems like we lost our way; where it seems like we were not clear where to go, but we are using yesterday’s pain so that it makes us stronger. As you correctly say, so that we are able to be stronger tomorrow. As we are stronger tomorrow, we are saying, sifuna abantu bonke bakithi (we want all our people in IsiZulu) to work together to hold hands because tomorrow is brighter, and tomorrow is better than today, and much better than yesterday. And it this where we are saying, let us work together to grow South Africa.”
Ramaphosa has also urged the church to encourage young people to register to vote. The final voter registration weekend is the 26 and 27 January.
Ramaphosa says young people should register to exercise their rights to vote.
“We ask that you continue and put the government as well as the 2019 elections in prayer so that those elections must go extremely well. Help us to get those young people to register so that they can execute their tasks, and as citizens of our country so that they can play their role as citizens and take our country to another level.”
Ramaphosa has once again promised young people that the issue of unemployment will be addressed.
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