Speaker of the National Assembly, Baleka Mbete has thrown her name into the ring in the race for leadership of the ANC this year, the Sunday Times reported.<\/p>\n
Speaking in an interview with the Sunday Times this week, Mbete said that she had been approached by many within the party to run, and “after much agonising” decided to make herself available for the role.<\/p>\n
This would make Mbete the third candidate to be in ‘official’ running, with the other two candidates being deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa and outgoing AU chair, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.<\/p>\n
The latter two candidates have been endorsed on some official level, with Dlamini-Zuma getting support from the ANC Women’s League, and Ramaphosa from worker union Cosatu, which still holds sway despite having no direct ANC integration.<\/p>\n
According to the Sunday Times, Mbete’s supporters have released a slate with her in the top position, with\u00a0Mpumalanga premier David Mabuza as her deputy and NCOP chairwoman Thandi Modise as chairwoman.<\/p>\n
Other politicians named on the slate include\u00a0Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa as secretary-general and former ANC Youth League activist Febe Potgieter-Gqubule as deputy secretary-general, the paper reported.<\/p>\n