Mashudu Sadike and Kuben Chetty
Pretoria - Last-minute horse trading during the ANC elective conference, which ends today, saw Gauteng and Limpopo change their plans, which apparently sent presidential hopeful Zweli Mkhize’s campaign up in smoke, paving the way for the re-election of Cyril Ramaphosa as ANC president.
“GP and Limpopo pulled a DD on us,” said a source, alluding to how outgoing deputy president David Mabuza had ditched Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, ensuring that Ramaphosa was victorious at the 2017 conference by swinging the Mpumalanga vote at the last minute.
Despite going into the conference with the Phala Phala scandal hanging over him, Ramaphosa secured 2 476 votes compared to Mkhize’s 1 897.
“It looked very good on Saturday night before voting. Then Ramaphosa’s campaign people started to panic. The president called (Ronald) Lamola and asked him to withdraw,” said the source.
“He apparently refused to do so, leaving Ramaphosa in a tight corner as the Eastern Cape wanted its chairperson, Oscar Mabuyane, to become deputy.”
Both failed as Paul Mashatile, with the backing of KZN and Gauteng, was elected deputy president with 2 178 votes, Lamola only received 315 and 1 858 votes for Mabuyane. It’s unclear how Mashatile got more votes than Mkhize and the rest of his slate.
This has led to speculation that the ANC in Gauteng, Mashatile’s main backers, played their KZN counterpart, by using their votes to propel him to the second most powerful position in the party, and position him as a front runner to succeed Ramaphosa as the country’s president.
Completing the new leadership will be Ramaphosa backer Fikile Mbalula as secretary-general. He will be deputised by Nomvula Mokonyane and Maropene Ramokgopa as the second deputy secretary. Another Ramaphosa ally, Gwede Mantashe, retained his position as party chairperson.Gwen Ramokgopa was elected to the treasurer-general position.
KZN had close to 900 delegates, or 20% of voters at the conference, out of the total 4 436 eligible voters, but ended with no representative in the Top Seven.
Its secretary, Bheki Mtolo, said the branches had sent a clear message that Ramaphosa had his work cut out for him – but all was not lost.
Speaking on the sidelines of the conference, Mtolo said: “All of us that have lost have no choice but to rally behind the ANC. All of us are subjected to the new leadership. It’s a matter of being disciplined and making sure that there is understanding of democratic centralism. Coming here, we knew there were two possibilities: one was that President Ramaphosa will win or lose. Now we have a president, and we go forward.
“We fought a good fight, but it is democracy. Comrades Gwede and Ramaphosa were elected democratically. There were no shenanigans. We were there, as were other observers. We campaigned, and he won. We must accept that he won. He is the president until 2027.
“We have no choice. This is the leadership of the ANC elected by conference. We are the subordinates of the ANC conference, and the conference has spoken. We have elected our Top Seven, which is our leadership elected by branches. We are not above the branches.”
Asked what the future was for Mkhize, Mtolo said: “Dr Zweli Mkhize is going to do work in his branch. This conference was not factionalised. This is one of the smoothest conferences, by the way. There is nothing we could have done better, because branches of the ANC have decided. We must accept that. Let’s accept the decisions of the ANC.”
Political analyst Professor Sipho Seepe said Ramaphosa’s re-election was akin to the ANC shooting itself in the foot. “Opposition parties will make a meal of the Phala Phala matter, and when it goes to court, Ramaphosa will have to explain himself, whereas so far he has been ducking and diving on the issue. The ANC will also find itself on the back foot with voters,” said Seepe.
He said law enforcement agencies were unwilling or unable to deal with the president’s farm scandal, and his re-election would make them even more fearful. “State organs have been weakened and have been unable to do their work, and citizens will be watching all of this ahead of the 2024 elections.”
Political analyst Professor Lesiba Teffo said Ramaphosa would have his fair share of challenges, including Phala Phala.
Teffo also took issue with the fact that most senior leaders hailed from Gauteng, saying he felt the party missed an opportunity to have a better spread of national representatives in its Top Seven.
“I am uneasy with the spread of national representation in the Top Seven. It is concentrated in Gauteng; that province is over-represented. A limping ANC, a divided party, is not good for the country. I would have been happier with a greater representation across all the nine provinces.
“The ANC is not only divided, but it is also not representative of the country.”
Pretoria News