Zuma is safe for at least one more year
President Jacob Zuma’s position as head of the ANC – and the country – is secure for one more year, as the ruling party has outright rejected calls for an early elective conference.
In a statement on Friday, party spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said that structures within the party had told ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe that they did not want an early conference – elective nor consultative.
Mantashe had previously expressed that an early conference was something the party would consider if enough provincial structures and ANC leagues supported the idea.
The ANC Youth League had called for an early elective conference on the back of a poor showing by the ruling party in the 2016 elections, in which it lost control of three major metros.
Tripartite alliance member, the SACP, also backed the call for an early conference, by recommended that it be a consultative conference, rather than elective one, as the ANC was divided and needed to be unified in determining the party’s future.
Zuma has been blamed for the divisions in the party, and his presidency has been questioned by vocal members of the ANC, its affiliates, business leaders and the public.
There were calls for Zuma to step down following a number of high-profile scandals, including a constiutional court ruling against him; hundreds of corruption charges waiting in the wings; and accusations of state capture surrounding his friendship with the Gupta family.
However, with an early conference being a definitive “no”, the president will now finish his term as head of the party, and will leave the next 12 months open for what is expected to be a high tension battle within the ANC to elect its next leader.
According to analysts and political insiders, the three main contenders for the position are deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa (backed by reformists, or the so-called ‘anti-Zuma’ faction) and AU chair, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma (backed by Zuma and the so-called ‘tenderpreneur’ faction).
Other possible contenders include SG Gwede Mantashe, speaker of the National Assembly Baleka Mbete, and the most likely ‘compromise’ candidate, ANC treasurer Zweli Mkhize.
The ANC is expected to hold its elective conference in late 2017.
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