A clear picture of two camps emerged just hours after voting concluded at the ANC’s elective conference at Nasrec, south of Johannesburg, on Monday — one jubilant, the other subdued.
Those in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s camp ululated and danced while former health minister Zweli Mkhize’s campaign leaders did not immediately want to give media interviews, while some supporters shed tears at the voting outcome.
Former health minister Mkhize received 1,897 votes, while Ramaphosa received 2,476 , winning by more than 500 votes. .
ANC KwaZulu-Natal secretary Bheki Mtolo says there was nothing the province could have done better to improve the chances of a Mkhize win. “The branches have spoken,” he told Business Day shortly after the results announcement.
Mkhize’s supporters were openly emotional. Experts say Mkhize appeared to have the “popular” vote, but could not translate this into numbers.
As the rand responded positively to the outcome of the leadership race, firming almost 2% at one stage, finance minister Enoch Godongwana said the Ramaphosa win would ensure policy continuity in government.
Godongwana said there had been concerns from South Africans about the economy, “and we have been trying to tell people that what matters in the ANC is economic policy. The good thing about (the election outcome) is that it suggests continuity in economic policy,” he said.
Policy and political analysts said they were not surprised by Ramaphosa’s win and his decisive majority, but they were surprised by his supporters’ success in the top seven.
“The big surprise was that it was pretty much a clean sweep. I certainly expected the campaign to win as president, but the question was whether he was going to get stuck with a compromise top seven as he did in 2017,” said the University of Pretoria’s Sithembile Mbete.
Ramaphosa’s allies won five of the top seven positions including mineral and resources and energy minister Gwede Mantashe being re-elected as party chair and transport minister Fikile Mbalula being elected secretary-general. ANC Women’s League co-ordinator Maropene Ramokgopa was named second deputy secretary-general and coordinator in the ANC secretary-general’s office, Gwen Ramokgopa, was elected treasurer-general.
Those not from his faction in the top seven include former treasurer-general Paul Mashatile, who was elected ANC deputy president, and former Gauteng premier and water and sanitation minister Nomvula Mokonyane, who was elected first deputy secretary-general. Both were on the Mkhize slate.
The Institute for Global Dialogue’s Sanusha Naidu said Mkhize supporters and the province of KwaZulu-Natal, which lost badly in the leadership race, will now have to go back and regroup. The province has the largest number of ANC members.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.