As the battle to succeed South African President Jacob Zuma as leader\u00a0of the African National Congress grows increasingly fractious, party Treasurer-General Zweli Mkhize is emerging as a possible compromise choice to keep the\u00a0continent\u2019s oldest political movement from tearing itself apart.<\/p>\n
While the race for the top job is widely seen as a head-to-head contest between Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the president\u2019s ex-wife and former chairwoman of the African Union Commission, Mkhize, a 61-year-old medical doctor, has two advantages: he\u2019s stayed above the infighting and has strong support in his home region of KwaZulu-Natal, which has the most ANC members of the nation\u2019s nine provinces.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has not been caught up in factions,\u201d\u00a0Ongama Mtimka, a political science lecturer at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in the southern city of Port Elizabeth, said by phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe may be seen across the country as a legitimate politician who could actually unify the party.\u201d<\/p>\n
The task of uniting the ANC after the damage to the party\u2019s image caused by Zuma\u2019s scandal-ridden presidency is daunting.<\/p>\n
A bitter split in KwaZulu-Natal has effectively left the province without a party leadership, and allies such as the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the Communist Party are openly calling for the president to go.<\/p>\n
In a municipal vote last August, the ANC suffered its worst electoral performance since the end of apartheid in 1994.<\/p>\n
Long-Shot Candidate<\/strong><\/p>\n Like Mtimka, Susan Booysen, a political science professor at the University of the Witwatersrand\u2019s School of Governance, sees Mkhize as a long shot to win control of the ANC.<\/p>\n \u201cNeither of the two leading candidates, Cyril Ramaphosa and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, are playing for a second place,\u201d Booysen said in an emailed response to questions.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile Mkhize commands much respect in the ANC, his \u2018compromise\u2019 candidacy comes at a wrong time. A compromise implies unity and in the ANC there is currently little space for unity.\u201d<\/p>\n Other contenders\u00a0to replace Zuma when he steps down as ANC leader in December and as president in 2019 include\u00a0Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, parliamentary speaker Baleka Mbete and Jeff Radebe, a minister in the presidency.<\/p>\n Mkhize spent five years in exile in Swaziland and Zimbabwe during apartheid rule. He returned home in 1991 and rose through the ranks of the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal, being appointed as the region\u2019s premier in 2009. He relinquished that post in 2013, the year after his appointment as the ANC\u2019s treasurer-general.<\/p>\n Gordhan Fallout<\/strong><\/p>\n While Mkhize has been a long-standing ally of Zuma, he openly criticized the president\u2019s March 31 decision to make 20 changes to his cabinet, including firing Pravin Gordhan as finance minister, without consulting his fellow ANC leaders. Since then he has repeatedly spoken out against \u201cstate capture,\u201d the local term for the undue influence private interests allegedly wield over the government and warned that factional fights risk destroying the ANC.<\/p>\n Mkhize didn\u2019t answer his mobile phone or respond to a text message requesting an interview.<\/p>\n Zuma has indicated that he favors Dlamini-Zuma, the mother of four of his at least 20 children, to succeed him. She\u2019s also won endorsements from the ANC\u2019s women\u2019s and youth leagues and military veterans, while Ramaphosa has the backing of the ANC\u2019s labor union and communist allies.<\/p>\n Avoid Division<\/strong><\/p>\n David Mabuza, the ANC\u2019s chairman in Mpumalanga province, has been leading calls for a consensus candidate, and Business Day newspaper reported on Sept. 13 that he favors Mkhize.<\/p>\n Several other provincial leaders have also called for the party to agree on a leadership slate and avoid a divisive vote.<\/p>\n Peter Attard Montalto, chief emerging-markets economist at Nomura International in London, said that while he expects Dlamini-Zuma to be the ANC\u2019s next leader, Mkhize can\u2019t be written off as a contender and he may be the best candidate to drive reforms needed to set South Africa\u2019s economy on a higher growth path.<\/p>\n He\u2019s the only person \u201cwho has the breadth of cross-party support to stand a decent chance of rising up through the existing two-slate factional battles,\u201d Montalto said.<\/p>\n \u201cMomentum around him has now increased significantly and is likely to continue doing so.\u201d<\/p>\n
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