Former South African president FW de Klerk on Wednesday, 8 May 2019, threw his weight behind President Cyril Ramaphosa in his efforts to uplift the nation if the ruling party retains power.
This comes in light of the national and provincial government elections. Casting his vote in Sea Point, Cape Town, on a wet and rainy Wednesday morning, De Klerk said he believed that things were not “all doom and gloom” in South Africa under Ramaphosa’s leadership.
Speaking to the media outside the polling station, De Klerk acknowledged that many South Africans had been disappointed in recent years, but they could be positive about the trajectory of the country.
“Everything is not dark in South Africa. There is light at the end of the tunnel.
“If the African National Congress wins and President Ramaphosa keeps his promises, things will get better,” De Klerk said.
De Klerk, who handed power to Nelson Mandela in a peaceful transition from apartheid to democracy in 1994, said he believed the ANC would win nationally, but that the opposition Democratic Alliance would retain control of the Western Cape province.
Former presidents Thabo Mbeki, Kgalema Motlanthe and Jacob Zuma also cast their votes at different locations around the country. Zuma was pictured earlier on Wednesday in Nkandla – where he resides – waiting in the queue at Ntolwane Primary School with his wife MaKhumalo.
Mbeki reportedly voted at Holy Family College in Killarney in the Gauteng Province. Motlanthe also cast his vote in Killarney earlier on Wednesday.
– APA
