By ZINE GEORGE and ZINGISA MVUMVU
This morning South Africans will know who their next president is likely to be when the new ANC leader is announced – that is if the governing party wins the 2019 general elections.
This follows voting throughout the night by more than 4700 ANC delegates who are attending the five-day national elective conference held at Nasrec, Johannesburg.
The race ended up being between Cyril Ramaphosa and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
Branch nominations as presented by the Electoral Commission last night showed that Ramaphosa received 1469 branch nominations against Dlamini-Zuma’s 1094 nominations.
But the picture may change depending on the size of the branches which nominated the candidates, as the size of the branch determines the number of delegates they qualify to take to conference.
The minimum quota is one delegate per 100 branch members.
Other candidates contesting the remaining top six positions are David Mabuza and Lindiwe Sisulu, who are vying for the deputy presidency.
Mabuza was nominated by 1094 branches while 619 branches picked Sisulu as their choice.
Outgoing ANC treasurer-general Zweli Mkhize, who had received 193 nominations from branches for the same position, announced at the plenary that he would be declining nomination for the sake of “unity”.
Branches also nominated Gwede Mantashe and Nathi Mthethwa for the national chairperson position, with Mantashe receiving support from 1499 branches and Mthethwa from 807 branches.
Former KwaZulu-Natal party chairperson Senzo Mchunu and Free State premier Ace Magashule will go head-to-head for the secretary-general’s position, having received 1479 and 930 respectively.
Jessie Duarte wants to serve a third term as deputy secretary general and will be challenged by Zingiswa Losi, while Paul Mashatile and Maite Nkoana-Mashabane will go against each other for the treasurer-general position.
Another leader who declined nomination was Water and Sanitation minister Nomvula Mokonyane, who withdrew from the race to become the treasurer-general.
The election results, expected later this morning, will bring to an end months of intense lobbying which sometimes expose deep divisions that at times end up playing out in public platforms and on social media.
Five provinces – Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Northern Cape, Gauteng and Limpopo – nominated Ramaphosa and the remaining four – KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, North West and Free State – want Dlamini-Zuma.
Other structures who voted include the 86-member national executive committee (NEC) and the youth, women and veterans leagues.
The three leagues were allocated 60 votes each.
On Saturday, disputes over credentials saw the meeting being adjourned while the credentials committee met to resolve the issues – with delegates from both sides questioning the eligibility of some of the delegates.
After the credentials committee “cleaned-up” of the list, it was presented yesterday morning and adopted within minutes.
Addressing the media yesterday, Duarte said: “We have withdrawn delegates who did not pass the verification process. In addition, there were branches from the Eastern Cape and Western Cape that were left out by mistake but they have since been reinstated. There was no inflation of numbers, as it stands. We have about 4700 voting delegates and credentials were adopted.”
Proposals to have a second deputy president and a second deputy secretary-general were rejected by the conference.