South African President Cyril Ramaphosa attends the 55th National Conference of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) at the Nasrec Expo Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa December 16, 2022. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -Protestors disrupted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa's opening speech for the ruling party's conference on Friday to elect their leaders, preventing him from starting and forcing him to shout to be heard over the din.
Delegates from the governing African National Congress (ANC) are electing party leaders from Friday until Tuesday, including the flagbearer at the next national elections due in 2024.
Outside the meeting hall in Johannesburg, Ramaphosa's opponents sang: "Out, Ramaphosa, out!”.
Inside when Ramaphosa took the stage, rival factions both sang songs, and his opponents refused to stop singing for several minutes despite his asking them to quieten down, forcing him to start speaking and ignore the chanting.
"This is not the time to display this type of disorderly behavious," Ramaphosa said, as his speech was interrupted.
"This does not bode well for the ANC."
Ramaphosa is contesting the party ticket in the five-day conference, after he avoided impeachment proceedings over a scandal dubbed "Farmgate" involving millions of dollars found stashed in sofas at his private farm.
Those seeking to oust him are mostly loosly allied to ex-president Jacon Zuma, who is being investigated for grand corruption while he was in office, which he denies.
(Reporting by Kopano GumbiWriting by Tim CocksEditing by James Macharia Chege)
