SA Federation of Trade Unions Secretary-General Zwelinzima Vavi has become the latest prominent figure to back calls for President Cyril Ramaphosa to resign, saying he was never a supporter of the Ramaphosa presidency.
Vavi took to social media on Tuesday morning following assertions by former president Thabo Mbeki that Ramaphosa would be correct to consider stepping down following the ANC’s poor performance in the local government elections.
In an interview with Africa Daily, Vavi said he had repeatedly called on Ramaphosa and his collective to take responsibility and resign to make way for a genuine process of renewal.
“I was never a supporter of the Ramaphosa presidency. Never,” Vavi said.
“I grew up in the NUM, where I was one of Ramaphosa’s strongest supporters when he was General Secretary. He left the union movement when he was elected Secretary-General of the ANC in 1991. I supported him in that role too. But he later left the ANC for business and, in my view, was transformed into a conservative BEE tycoon. My support for him in those earlier roles must not be misrepresented as support for his presidency.”
Vavi said his comment was made strictly in his personal capacity.
“My comment was made strictly in my personal capacity. I am not even an ANC member; I let my membership lapse during the disastrous Zumantashe era,” he said.
“It is Mbeki who agrees with the point I have been making. My Twitter and Facebook posts show that I have repeatedly called on Ramaphosa and his collective to take responsibility. I have even called on them to resign and make way for a genuine process of renewal,” Vavi said.
Vavi’s intervention follows a video clip circulating on social media in which Mbeki backed calls for Ramaphosa to resign.
Mbeki said he had been informed about a Sunday Times report alleging that Ramaphosa had offered to resign following the outcome of the local government elections.
Mbeki said although he had not personally read the report, he said he believed Ramaphosa would be taking the correct position if the reports were true.
“Because normally, normally, in all of these democratic countries where you have a major disaster like that, the leaders resign. They take responsibility,” Mbeki said.
He questioned how the ANC leadership could continue in office after presiding over such an outcome.
Mbeki argued that the party’s leadership should take responsibility for its failures rather than leave the task of renewal to individuals who might not be capable of turning the organisation around.
He also questioned what positive developments could be attributed to Ramaphosa’s presidency since he became ANC president in 2017 and president of the country in 2018.
“What has happened between 2018 and 2026 of a positive nature that you can point to, to say during this period, positive, positive, positive? Nothing. There’s a lot of negativity,” he said.
Mbeki cited rising unemployment, poverty, violence and crime, as well as the country’s declining economic performance and the ANC’s loss of electoral support.
The ANC suffered a decline in support in the 2026 local government elections, falling to around 31% nationally, down from 45.6% in 2021.
In Gauteng, the party lost control of Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni, with no party winning an outright majority in the three metros.
Mbeki suggested that the rest of the ANC’s top seven should consider following Ramaphosa’s reported example.
“Isn’t it time for that top seven to say, like President Ramaphosa seems to be saying, we can’t continue to lead having produced this negative outcome of this kind? Maybe that’s what they should say,” he said.
However, Mbeki clarified that he was not instructing the party’s leadership to resign, but believed they should be prepared to accept responsibility.
He also included himself in that responsibility, pointing out that he remained a member of the ANC’s NEC.
“I’m part of the leadership of the ANC. I’m a member of National Executive Committee of the ANC. We have to take responsibility for what has happened, including that top seven,” he said.
Mbeki further questioned whether the ANC had entrusted the responsibility of renewing the organisation to the wrong people.
“It may very well be indeed that when we say ANC renewal, we are giving the task to renew the ANC to wrong people,” he said.
Vavi’s backing of Mbeki adds the voice of organised labour to the growing pressure on Ramaphosa.
Vavi is a former general secretary of Cosatu and now leads Saftu, one of the country’s major trade union federations.
His relationship with Ramaphosa dates back to the NUM, where Ramaphosa served as general secretary before moving into ANC leadership.
Vavi said that history should not be confused with support for Ramaphosa as president of the ANC or president of the country.
The calls for Ramaphosa to resign come ahead of the ANC NEC meeting on Thursday, where the party is expected to discuss its coalition approach and its response to the election results.
Ramaphosa has not publicly confirmed the Sunday Times report that he offered to resign.
The Presidency has also not issued a formal response to Mbeki’s comments or to Vavi’s call for Ramaphosa and his collective to resign.
The debate over leadership responsibility is expected to dominate the ANC’s internal discussions in the coming days, as the party faces coalition negotiations in hung councils across the country, including in Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni.
Vavi said his position remained that Ramaphosa and his collective should take responsibility for the electoral outcome and step aside to allow a genuine process of renewal.