A new age dawns for the ANC leadership battles – one of greater openness and transparent ambitions

With ANC branches now in the middle of their nominations processes, there are some indications that this race could be different to what we have become used to in the past. In particular, the candidates in previous years who would refuse to even confirm they were in the running are now actually answering some questions about their campaigns.

Will this December 2022 contest be more open, more transparent than in the past? Will the candidates actually explain why they should be elected, rather than their opponents. There are signs that people like President Cyril Ramaphosa and Dr Zweli Mkhize may be more open than in the past. Even Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma is saying on camera that she is running for the top job. This may mark the beginning of a change in the culture of the ANC, and in how it really conducts leadership contests.

Within ANC politics, it is almost unknown for candidates who are contesting against each other to make direct and public comments about their opponents. This is not that different from other internal party contests in other places. No one wants to necessarily damage their own party by attacking someone from among their own, even if they are their opponents or they genuinely dislike them.

But in our governing party there has also been a culture where people almost won’t even confirm that they are running at all. This is why, in 2007, it was so strange for Tokyo Sexwale to openly say he was running. It was such a contrast to the public statements made by then president Thabo Mbeki and then future president Jacob Zuma.

Now things seem to be slightly different.

While Ramaphosa has not said much about the leadership race, both of the other main contenders, Dlamini Zuma and Mkhize, have confirmed, on camera, that they are contesting.

This is possibly because of the way the ANC has changed the rules of the game. Under the new elections committee run by former president Kgalema Motlanthe, candidates have to adjust their campaign tactics to adhere to a set of rules that includes deliberate changes, including the fact that there will be two leadership ballots designed to attempt to break up the slate system.

But even at this point, the main contenders have said very little about each other. Despite that, it may be that, in fact, Ramaphosa has been much more aggressive than the others, without anyone necessarily noticing.

The party president made his comment at the ANC’s policy conference, long before the nominations process opened. During his opening address (from the 1:06 mark) he spoke about local government, and about how the number of councils under administration had increased.

https://youtu.be/XDj5oCI2rg4

There he said this: 

“Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, who has the responsibility of cooperative governance, always says to us, President, the problem with the state of local government is us. The African National Congress. We are the problem. We are the ones who are causing the problems. And as a result communities protest, and when they protest for service delivery and many other problems, they are protesting against us.”

It appears Ramaphosa was making many points with this statement.

He was lamenting the ANC’s role in local government, he was literally blaming his own party for it. On live television.

And he was absolving himself from the comment, because he was quoting someone else. Who he may well have already known would challenge him again for the position of ANC leader.

In one move he appeared to have been able to both accept responsibility for the ANC’s role in the collapse of local government, and put some of the blame on Dlamini Zuma.

For a politician who is often accused of not moving against his enemies, it sounded pretty aggressive.

Read more in Daily Maverick: “The ANC young guns and veterans vying for the top six in hotly contested party leadership race”

Dlamini Zuma has said very little about Ramaphosa, although this week she attended a seminar in Durban. As TimesLIVE reported, when asked about Stage 6 load shedding, she said: 

“Something has got to give. I mean stage 6? We need to think about that and treat it as a crisis. What is happening at Eskom fits the definition of a real crisis. I’m glad the president said he will come back because there is a crisis, but then what happens next is going to be what is important.”

It does not appear that she offered any substantive solutions to the problem.

It is interesting that she gave this response. In strictly internal ANC political terms, it would have been a golden opportunity for her to explain what she believed should be done to fix the problems at Eskom. If she had chosen, she could have explained what she would have done if she were in charge of the ANC and the country.

But she chose not to, perhaps because it would have been her commenting outside of her political authority because she is the Cogta minister and not the minister of energy or public enterprises.

Mkhize more open