South Africa's ANC Elects its Top Leadership for the Next Five Years

SOUTH AFRICA - In Brief 19 Dec 2022 by Iraj Abedian

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During a highly contested and tense Elective Congress over the past three days, the ANC elected its top leadership who will lead the Party to the next National Elections of 2024. Most importantly, in a much welcome vote of confidence in Ramapaphosa's reform, President Cyril Ramaphosa was re-elected as the Party's president despite a fierce contest with his ex-Minister of Health, Dr. Zweli Mkhize, who received 1,897 as opposed to Ramaphosa's 2476. Yesterday, Dr. Mkhize and his supporters were confident that they had garnered sufficient votes to de-throne Ramaphosa. This was the latest of the (Radical Economic Transformation) RET camp's effort to re-capture control of the Party. Paul Mashatile was voted in with 2178 votes as the Deputy President. This is a critical position given the Party's tradition of the Deputy President of the Part's being the successor to the President over time. In effect, beyond the 2024 National Elections, in the event of any incidence that may lead to Ramaphosa's inability to continue as the President, Paul Mashatile will be the natural successor to the office of the President.   The Party resolved to expand its top executive capacity by adding one more "deputy secretary general" to the Top 6, making it the "Top 7" henceforth. The current Minister of Transport, Mr. Fikile Mbalula was voted to this all important position of Secretary General. Fikile Mbalula has been a staunch supporter of Ramaphosa and going forward he remains a critical player in re-building the organization, which has lost much capacity and credibility. For consolidating Ramaphosa's reform agenda, the office of secretary general of the ANC is pivotal. So, the election of Mbalu...