In what could be seen as the strongest indication that incarcerated abaThembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo might soon be a free man, President Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday said granting the monarch a presidential pardon was under “serious consideration”.
This comes after justice minister Michael Masutha recommended that Ramaphosa grant Dalindyebo a presidential pardon. Five of his seven victims told the Daily Dispatch that they had forgiven Dalindyebo and wanted him to be freed by Ramaphosa.
Speaking on the sidelines of his election campaign in Butterworth on Friday, Ramaphosa hinted at releasing the king.
“The matter of his majesty, the king is under consideration. We are going through various processes and I am giving serious consideration to it.
“Everybody must just cool it and relax because the matter is being considered,” Ramaphosa said.
Addressing thousands of excited ANC members and supporters at the Msobomvu Stadium, Ramaphosa said the governing party was on a path of renewal and cleansing itself from past mishaps.
“Our people are filled with hope and confidence, and they know that we are in a period of renewal that is going to make us be able to do much better than we have done in the past.
“People now see that the ANC is renewing itself and uniting itself. The ANC has had its mistakes in the recent past, but this has now ended. The ANC is becoming better and better at what it should do for our people,” he said.
The president said in the recent past South Africans realised that the mistakes the party had made in recent years were now a thing of the past.
“The ANC has restored itself and is now back to its old self – the ANC that is loved and supported by people. When I travel around South Africa people tell me that the ANC they know is back. We want to fix what was going wrong in government at national and provincial level.
“At national level, you can see the revelations at the commissions.
“Those things they used to do in the past must come to an end,” he said to loud applause.
Ramaphosa also took his campaign to Dimbaza near King William’s Town, before visiting Duncan Village in East London.
Touching on the local economy while addressing the Butterworth rally, Ramaphosa said government was working on revamping old industrial areas in the province in order to boost the local economy and create more job opportunities in the Eastern Cape.
“We have started a programme of revamping all the industrial sites. We will allocate money to rebuild the industrial parks so that they can be operational again.
“This will inspire private business to invest and bring more jobs,” he said.
The provincial government has for a year now been talking about reviving factories in Mthatha, Komani, Butterworth and Dimbaza, among other areas.
Ramaphosa said the Eastern Cape would also benefit from the R300bn raised last year through investment drives and the investment conference.
Ramaphosa also expressed disappointment on the province’s performance when it came to matric results, saying that the dismal performance needed to end.
“Eastern Cape has been a reservoir of education in the history of our country. A lot of people from here became legends.
We want the Eastern Cape when it comes to education to go back to that stature of being the best province that delivers in education.
“Currently the Eastern Cape is lacking behind, and I am not happy about this. The Eastern Cape must move forward and make sure our matric outcomes improve”
Ramaphosa was accompanied by the ANC provincial deputy chair, who is also the MEC of education, Mlungisi Mvoko, and the Amathole regional chair, Khanyile Maneli.
Speaking in Dimbaza, the president echoed his promises to revive the now defunct factories in Dimbaza, Mdantsane and Butterworth  to provide jobs for the residents of those areas.“We are busy trying to create jobs because that is the problem we are facing every day.Many of our people are not working. The industrial parks closed, and that has led to many people to lose their jobs. I have heard the people’s complaints, and these factories need to be opened again.”He said much was still needed to be done to change things for South Africans living in poverty.“In 1994 only eight million people were working. Now we have 16.5m people working, which means we have created jobs. Yet there are still many without employment, and that’s why we have been travelling around the world trying to attract investors into our country,” he said.Ramaphosa added that, “Last year we had a conference with potential investors and we presented opportunities for them in our country.We secured R3bn from that conference, and we want to see some of that money coming to the Eastern Cape and in Dimbaza”.He promised to build Dimbaza residents new houses, saying those built in the 1960s “were in dire condition”.“We will make sure money is allocated to build houses, and I will personally make sure that it happens. And if it does not happen, I will come back to the people who are responsible and remove them.”Meanwhile, Ramaphosa echoed the same sentiments to irate Duncan Village residents.A steady stream of people started to walk out soon after he started to speak about issues including unemployment and basic services in the area.Mandilakhe Sabi said they had been waiting for the president since the morning.“We were told to come here early, and some people were here from 10am, only for the president to arrive now at five o’clock. That is not on,” Sabi said.Ramaphosa is expected to address Freedom Day celebrations in Makhanda on Saturday before campaigning in Nelson Mandela Bay.He will then end his Eastern Cape tour with a visit to Port St Johns to assess the damage that was caused by heavy rains...