Jockeying for posts on the ANC national executive committee (NEC) is at fever pitch ahead of the elective conference that starts on December 16, with about 10,000 nominees being processed by the party’s electoral committee.
In the end only 200 of these will appear on the ballot paper for one of the 80 slots on the leadership body.
The release of nominations from ANC branches for the top six positions sent wannabe power-brokers into a spin as they launched last-minute efforts to promote their candidates and tweak their slates to make them as electable as possible.
Reports abound of caucuses and new slates but the secretary of the party’s electoral committee, Chief Matsila, says by and large it is clear that delegates are no longer voting “in a bloc”. He believes the lineup announced by the chair of the committee, Kgalema Motlanthe, last week is unlikely to change dramatically.
So the 11th-hour attempts by factional power brokers to boost support for their candidates are likely to fall flat.
The branch nominations released by the electoral committee give a clear picture of the likely composition of the new top six. President Cyril Ramaphosa remains in pole position for the top post and treasurer Paul Mashatile is a shoo-in as deputy president, while Mdumiseni Ntuli, a former KwaZulu-Natal provincial secretary, appears to have a lock on the post of secretary-general.
It shows internal democracy is at work within the ANC, for the first time in a long time. There is absolute participation
— Chief Matsila
“The results [announced by Motlanthe] strongly indicate who is preferred by the branches of the ANC to lead the country,” Matsila tells the FM.
“Judging from past experience, nominations have been almost 100% reliable in terms of what to expect at conference. Of course there is a random chance that one or two positions might change, but the more nominations leaders have from the branches, the more they are likely to retain those numbers.”
The delegate that a branch sends to the conference “carries the mandate of the branch”, Matsila says.
“What we have been trying to say is that branches must send delegates who are trustworthy and honest and won’t sell their souls at conference, so the stability factor remains in terms of what we see now in the numbers.”
While all eyes are fixed on the top six positions, the composition of the NEC — the highest decision-making body between conferences, and the body from which cabinet ministers are drawn — is also important to watch.
It was the NEC that recalled former president Thabo Mbeki in 2008 after he was beaten to the presidency by Jacob Zuma; it then sheltered Zuma from accountability during his decade at the helm, and later forced him to make way for Ramaphosa after the Nasrec conference in 2017.
After Ramaphosa’s election as party president at that conference, the NEC adopted rules on the step aside policy, leading to Ace Magashule’s suspension as secretary-general. And it might not be publicly acknowledged but membership of the NEC can be beneficial for cadres’ personal business interests, which provides a powerful incentive to get on to it.
It was the NEC that established the electoral committee early last year and agreed its rules.
Matsila tells the FM the committee has its hands full ahead of the conference.
“We are working on the numbers because this time around we have more than 10,000 potential nominees whom we are processing, which is what is causing a delay,” he says.
“You can imagine we have to check the spelling of names, make sure the numbers tally and make sure it’s a clean process.”
The committee hopes to release the names of the 200 candidates on the ballot paper shortly.
“It shows internal democracy is at work within the ANC, for the first time in a long time. There is absolute participation, people are free to nominate whoever they want. We have liberated the branches to nominate,” Matsila says.
The nominees are being vetted for eligibility. Reasons for disqualification include being charged with a crime, facing party disciplinary processes or having run foul of the party’s integrity committee.
10,000 nominees for 80 ANC NEC spots
The character of those elected will be crucial for Ramaphosa’s renewal agenda — during his first term he has been hobbled by an NEC heavily populated by compromised individuals, including some implicated in state capture such as Malusi Gigaba, Mosebenzi Zwane and Gwede Mantashe.
An NEC with more integrity would allow him to steam ahead with crucial party reforms. But if the branches choose the same old anti-reform holdouts, the writing will be on the wall for how strong the appetite for change is among rank and file members. Ramaphosa, once again, will be on his own.
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