It was only last week that the likes of the Mail & Guardian were saying it was tickets for Cyril Ramaphosa, his backpedalling over the Cabinet Reshuffle signalling the end of any presidential aspirations he might have had (HERE).

What a difference a week can make, though, because at Sunday’s Chris Hani memorial service in Uitenhage Cyril grew a backbone and the shackles came off.

A brief summary of what went down via the Daily Maverick:

If Ramaphosa had wimped out after that, his supporters would never have forgiven him. He did not disappoint, saying everything he could possibly have said without being in violation of any ANC rules and decisions. This was not a formal announcement that he is running for the position of ANC president. It was a clear signal that he would be the candidate to challenge Zuma’s faction and take on the Gupta contagion…

Until now, the premier league leaders, the ANC Youth League, ANC Women’s League, and Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association have not been able to attack him directly as he had not said or done anything to show he would be messing with their plans to anoint Zuma’s successor.

Now he has and the dogs of war will be set on him…

But Ramaphosa probably knows what he is in for judging by the quote from Hani he chose to end his speech with:

“I’ve never wanted to spare myself because I feel there are people who are no longer around and died for this struggle. What right do I have to hold back, to rest, to preserve my health, to have time with my family, when there are other people who are no longer alive – when they sacrificed what is precious: namely life itself.”

And that, essentially, was the choice: to preserve himself or be president. On Sunday, Cyril Ramaphosa decided to run for president.

And we have lift off – this one is going to be ugly.

So what about these websites, then?

The Mail & Guardian decided to look closely at two sites – Dlaminin-Zuma’s (HERE) and Ramaphosa’s “unofficial, fan-driven website” (HERE).

We’ll start with the infographic:

About that countdown clock – here’s what it looked like at the time of writing:

And a little insight into how they differ:

The CR website has one advantage over Nkosazana.com — it is not coy. Over more than 60 pages the Dlamini-Zuma website never mentions her future plans, gives no hint of ambition and — in the tradition of the ANC that predates websites for individuals — it never campaigns.

The Ramaphosa fan site, on the other hand, is more than a little brash. “VOTE FOR CHANGE” the slogan shouts next to Ramaphosa’s face on the design for a car wrap made available to “take directly to your printer”. For illustrative purposes, the website shows how the design would look when applied to a luxury Audi.

Might want to tone that down and ‘talk to the people’, given that the Zuma name has come to be associated with a general ‘let them eat cake’ attitude.

Cyril versus Nkosazana – ding ding ding.

[sources:dailymaverick&mg]