ANC election results expected on Monday

South Africa’s governing African National Congress canceled further media briefings for the day late on Sunday and said it would provide further updates on Monday.

Members were still voting for the party’s leaders shortly before midnight on Sunday, with the outcome of several of the contests still hanging in the balance. The results of the election are now expected to be announced on Monday.

The candidates for top positions
President Cyril Ramaphosa and former Health Minister Zweli Mkhize are the only nominees to lead the party.

Cooperative Governance Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who narrowly lost to Ramaphosa in the contest to lead the ANC in 2017 and is among the president’s detractors, declined a nomination from the conference floor to run for the top post.

Read: Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma won’t run for ANC leader

Deputy President David Mabuza also said he wasn’t available to be re-elected deputy party leader, leaving the position to be contested by Justice Minister Ronald Lamola, Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane and ANC Treasurer-General Paul Mashatile. Mabuza’s decision means he’s unlikely to serve a second term as the nation’s deputy president.

Former Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize (left), seen here with President Cyril Ramaphosa back in 2018. Now the two are facing off for the ANC top post. Image: Siyabulela Duda, GCIS

These are the candidates for the other top posts:

Secretary-General:

Mdumiseni Ntuli, a former ANC secretary in the KwaZulu-Natal province
Phumulo Masualle, the deputy minister of public enterprises
Fikile Mbalula, the transport minister

Deputy Secretary-General:

Nomvula Mokonyane, a former minister of environmental affairs
Tina Joemat-Pettersson, a former energy minister

Second Deputy Secretary-General: 

Maropene Ramokgopa, a presidential adviser on international relations
Ronalda Nalomanga, an ANC official from the Western Cape province

Chairperson:  

Stanley Mathabatha, the premier of the Limpopo province
Gwede Mantashe, the mineral resources and energy minister, and incumbent ANC chairman
David Masondo, the deputy finance minister

Treasurer-General:

Bejani Chauke, a special adviser to Ramaphosa
Pule Mabe, the ANC’s spokesman
Mzwandile Masina, a former mayor of the Ekurhuleni municipality
Gwen Ramakgopa, a former deputy health minister

ANC condemns accusations of vote buying (Dec. 18, 3:23 p.m.)
Accusations of vote buying damaged the ANC’s brand and undermined the credibility of its leaders and the practice wouldn’t be tolerated, according to spokesman Pule Mabe. Security officials and marshals had been briefed to report any suspicious exchange of money to the conference’s steering committee, he told reporters.

Vote buying is the “antithesis of what we stand for,” Mabe said. “The leadership of the ANC must be beyond reproach.”

ANC registers delegates to pick leader (Dec. 17, 10 p.m.)

The ANC completed the registration of 4 426 voting delegates attending its conference.

Challenges that delayed the process included a new registration system, a poor computer network, faulty equipment and power cuts, the ANC’s credentials committee said in a report on Saturday. There were also late changes to some delegate lists and problems with tags and photos, it said.

The five-day conference is due to end on Dec. 20.

ANC membership nosedives (Dec. 17, 9 p.m.)
The party’s membership has fallen sharply over the past two years, a decline that mirrors its waning support.

The ANC credential committee’s report shows the party has 691,381 paid-up members, down from 1.6 million in July 2020.

Declining ANC membership

“The sharp fall in membership numbers shows the general apathy toward the party and organizational disarray,” said Melanie Verwoerd, an independent political analyst and former ANC lawmaker.

“The use of an electronic membership system by the ANC since its last national conference in 2017 also lends credence to suspicions then that membership numbers had been inflated.”

Godongwana says policy shift unlikely (Dec. 17, 8 a.m. )
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana told business leaders attending a breakfast on the sidelines of the conference that ANC policy isn’t determined by the party’s leaders and won’t necessarily shift if power does change hands.

Read: Ramaphosa exit won’t change economic policy, finance chief says

Godongwana also said he’d be prepared to continue working with Ramaphosa or Mkhize.

“Unlike in the USA where the policy belongs to the president, policy belongs to the party, so irrespective of the change in government, the party will continue to pursue its policy,” Godongwana said. “I am not panicking an inch about who comes out.”

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