Mbalula to potential coalition partners: 'Ramaphosa won't step down'

JOHANNESBURG - African National Congress (ANC) secretary general Fikile Mbalula says the party will not yield to calls for the removal of President Cyril Ramaphosa from public office by potential coalition partners.

South Africa is set to be governed by a coalition pact after the ANC lost its majority in the National Assembly. 

Speaking at a media briefing at the National Results Operations Centre on Sunday, Mbalula said Ramaphosa would remain head of state.

“If you come to us with the demand that Ramaphosa must step down as a president, that is not going to happen. We’ve got no such mandate, we are not going to engage with political parties on the basis the ‘we don’t want you to talk to so and so”. We’re not going to do that. That is a no-go area to everyone. If you come to us with the demand, forget.”