After a day of ¬fierce horse-trading at the African National Congress (ANC)’s national conference at Nasrec, delegates finally chose their leadership’s top seven office bearers. As it was expected, ANC branches present at the conference made their choice as follows: Cyril Ramaphosa (President), Paul Mashatile (Deputy President), Gwede Mantashe (Chairperson), Fikile Mbalula (General Secretary), Gwen Ramokgopa (Treasurer General), Nomvula Mokonyane (1st Deputy Secretary General) and Maropene Ramokgopa (2nd Deputy Secretary General).
The more than 4,000 delegates to this conference mandated Cyril Ramaphosa to lead the party for another five years. Many were calling for the reigns to be handed to the former Health Minister, Zweli Mkhize.
Gauteng was the last province to cast their votes late into Sunday night. Policy discussions appeared to be taking a backseat to the leadership race as behind-the-scenes lobbying distracted delegates from closed-door commissions.
Provinces flip-flopped on Sunday as to who they would be backing to lead the party, with fi¬erce trade-offs being made for the deputy presidency between Paul Mashatile and Oscar Mabuyane, putting Ronald Lamola out of contention. The conference had its moments of drama, the most conspicuous one being that of former president Jacob Zuma who made a dramatic grand entrance at the venue whilst Cyril Ramaphosa was delivering his political report.
For that stunt, Zuma was highly lambasted for being an attention seeker. His antics were criticised by former SACP Secretary General and current Minister of Higher Education, Dr. Blade Nzimande among others.
In breaking down the voting, ANC Head of Elections, Kgalema Motlanthe said that 4, 436 delegates were eligible to vote. He said that 4, 386 votes were cast and that 4, 384 ballots were counted. Motlanthe explained that two ballots were confi¬scated after two voters were caught photographing their ballots. They offered to revoke their voting status. Motlanthe explained that Cyril Ramaphosa amassed a total of 2 476 compared to his opponent Zweli Mkhize’s 1897 votes.
