File: ANC leader Cyril Ramaphosa at the Limpopo ANC manifesto rollout. (Twitter)

President Cyril Ramaphosa has urged all South African citizens, those who share beds with partners, and those who sleep alone, to wake up on May 8 and go cast their votes. 

“If you sleep with someone in your bed, wake them up and say, ‘sweetheart, let us go and vote’… If you sleep alone, I am saying you wake up and wake up everybody else and go and vote,” Ramaphosa said. 

He was speaking to thousands of party supporters who descended to Ellis Park stadium in Johannesburg on Sunday to witness the party’s Siyanqoba final rally.  Ramaphosa urged citizens to go out in numbers and ensure that they vote on the day. He also pleaded that people “give the ANC another chance”. 

He said, he himself is going to ask his wife to wake him up early on the day so that they can go and vote.

READ: RAMAPHOSA’S FULL SPEECH

“I am going to say to my wife…wake me up and say, ‘sweetheart let’s go and vote’.

“If you are used to waking up and doing other things, I say you don’t do those things, you will do them after voting. We just all wake up and go and vote,” said Ramaphosa.

Ramaphosa said the party has worked hard in the past months to ensure that they garnered enough support from the people. 

He added that there was no other political party that deserved the people’s votes because the “ANC is the only one that can take South Africa forward”.

Ramaphosa also thanked ANC elections head Fikile Mbalula for “razzmatazz-ing” the party’s election campaigns. 

South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) says it welcomes Ramaphosa’s speech, adding that it has in the last months joined the ANC-led alliance in traversing South Africa to mobilise support  for the party.

It said Ramaphosa’s speech captured the concerns which South Africans relayed to the leadership of the alliance during the election campaign trail.

“President Ramaphosa has correctly assured South Africans that the [governing] party has heard them and will accordingly act to renew governance in the country.

“SANCO calls on the President to ensure implementation of the ANC manifesto after the elections in order to inspire public confidence in government,” Sanco said in a statement.

Find everything you need to know about the 2019 National and Provincial Government Elections at our News24 Elections site, including the latest news and detailed, interactive maps for how South Africa has voted over the past 3 elections. Make sure your News24 app is updated to access all our elections coverage in one place.