EKURHULENI – A seemingly minor breach of political protocol has laid bare underlying tensions within the ANC’s Gauteng election machinery, after President Cyril Ramaphosa was caught on camera sharply rebuking Ekurhuleni Mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza on the campaign trail.
The incident, captured in a video that went viral on Monday, shows Ramaphosa turning to Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi mid-event and issuing a terse instruction that has since ignited fierce debate.
“Tell your mayor you do not speak after the President. That is not protocol,” Ramaphosa is heard saying.
In state and party protocol, the President, as the highest-ranking official, always delivers the final address.
No junior leader is expected to take the microphone after him.
Xhakaza’s attempt to speak after Ramaphosa had concluded was seen as a direct violation of that hierarchy.
The awkward exchange unfolded as Ramaphosa led the ANC’s local government election offensive on the East Rand, just weeks before the crucial 4 November municipal polls.
Flanked by Lesufi and Xhakaza, the President toured community halls and taxi ranks in Daveyton, pleading with voters to hand the ANC an outright majority in Ekurhuleni and end years of unstable coalition rule.
But it is the viral clip, not the campaign message, that has dominated political discussion.
The ANC lost control of Ekurhuleni in 2021 and has since battled to reassert its authority amid service delivery collapse, factional battles, and voter apathy.
The video has split South Africans online. Some have defended Ramaphosa, arguing that protocol is sacrosanct and that Xhakaza, a relatively new mayor in a politically volatile metro, should have known better.
Others saw it as symptomatic of an increasingly top-down ANC where dissent or even enthusiasm from junior leaders is quickly shut down.
The fact that Ramaphosa instructed Lesufi to “tell your mayor” – rather than address Xhakaza directly – has been interpreted as a deliberate assertion of power and a reminder of the pecking order within the provincial alliance.
Neither the Presidency nor the City of Ekurhuleni has issued a formal statement on the incident, but ANC insiders in Gauteng downplayed it as a “momentary misunderstanding” on a long campaign day.
Ramaphosa has been criss-crossing Gauteng to shore up support after polls showed the ANC still vulnerable in all three metros – Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni.
In Ekurhuleni, the party has pinned its hopes on Xhakaza to stabilise administration and restore voter confidence.
