South Africa elections 2024: ANC holds final rally in Soweto

Some ANC supporters carried coffins of opposition parties – including that of former President Jacob Zuma’s newly formed party, uMkhonto weSizwe (MK), which translates as Spear of the Nation.

“Zuma is a big traitor,” Manelisi Zulu told the BBC.

The 82-year-old former president caused a major shock in December by ditching the ANC to spearhead MK’s campaign.

Claiming that Mr Zuma’s party had no future, Mr Zulu said: “Today we are holding its memorial. On 29 May, we will bury it.”

Opinion polls paint a different picture, suggesting that MK could get between 8% and 13% of the national vote, and help deny the ANC a parliamentary majority.

The party could also emerge as the largest in Mr Zuma’s home province of KwaZulu-Natal, to end ANC control there.

Aware of the threat, Mr Ramaphosa fired salvoes at his predecessor, without naming him.

“Those who could not stand the renewal of the ANC have left us,” he said.

Mr Ramaphosa added that money stolen through state capture – the term South Africans use to describe the grand corruption that took place during Mr Zuma’s presidency – was being recovered by law-enforcement agencies, and that “treasonous” attempts to “destroy” the tax department had been “stopped”.

“The people have told us that the ANC is their organisation. They have told us that they love the ANC. They have told us that they will not allow their organisation to be stolen by criminals and counter-revolutionaries,” Mr Ramaphosa added.

But the president himself was rocked by a major scandal in 2022, after it emerged that he had stashed at least $580,000 (£458,000) of cash in a sofa on his game farm, with the money later stolen by robbers.

A panel of legal experts appointed by parliament recommended that impeachment proceedings be instituted against Mr Ramaphosa, but the ANC used its parliamentary majority to block it.

Mr Ramaphosa denied any wrongdoing, while subsequent investigations – including by South Africa’s public protector – cleared him. However, police are yet to disclose the outcome of their investigation.

At the rally, ANC supporters dismissed the allegations of money-laundering against the president.

“It was a trap set up for Mr Ramaphosa so that he looks bad. He is the best president we’ve had,” Thando Matidza told the BBC, as she applauded his pledge to root out corruption in the party.