The African National Congress (ANC) does not need to buy votes with food parcels, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Wednesday.

The ruling party had enough capacity to convince people to vote for them and food parcels were distributed within the limits of the law, he said while answering questions in the National Assembly.

They were not given out depending on which party’s T-shirts people wore.

“As government we believe state resources should not be used for political party interests. They are there for all South Africans and all the people who live in the country,” he said.

The deputy president was answering a question from the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), on the separation of the state and party.

IFP MP Liezl Van der Merwe said the problem persisted during every by-election. She questioned if measures in place went far enough to put an end to the distribution of food parcels closer to election time.

Ramaphosa said the government helped people because they were in need, not to buy votes. He trusted that the elections would not be jeopardised and said he had faith in the system.

He promised to keep a close eye on the practice of food parcel distribution and the use of expanded public works programmes to prop up ANC campaigns.