THE ANC has put a lid on the succession debate after various factions came out to back their preferred candidates to succeed President Jacob Zuma at the party’s elective conference in December.
The party has decided to write to its branches to discourage its members from discussing the succession race and rather focus on the upcoming policy conference in June, deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte told editors at a breakfast briefing in Joburg yesterday.
Duarte said that at its national working committee meeting on Monday, the ANC decided to put a lid on the debate, which is yet to be opened, after remarks by some leaders and the ANC Women’s League about who should succeed Zuma when he steps down.
The ANCWL prefers outgoing AU chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, while the party’s alliance structures, including labour federation Cosatu, have spoken out about their support for Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Yesterday, ANC national chairperson Baleka Mbete, who has also availed herself to succeed Zuma, said the party was finding it “very difficult to manage the situation”, owing to people’s anxieties being aired in public about their preferred candidates.
The fact that the ruling party was yet to open the succession debate had done little to deter the ANCWL, among other structures, from openly endorsing Dlamini-Zuma to succeed Zuma.
Zuma also came under harsh criticism when he told millions of listeners on three SABC radio stations last week that the country was ready for a female president, and this was viewed as a tacit endorsement for his ex-wife, Dlamini-Zuma.
The president said it was not the policy or tradition of the ANC for a deputy president to automatically ascend to the number one position when the president stepped down.
But ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said the party needed to ask itself difficult questions if it did not elect the deputy to succeed the outgoing president.
Yesterday, Mbete said she was surprised by the ANCWL’s endorsement of Dlamini-Zuma, which came on the eve of the January 8 statement.
Speaking on 702, the National Assembly Speaker said the 105-year-old movement was grappling with two principles: that a woman should lead the party, and that the deputy should succeed the president.
“The national working committee had a meeting about these articles (in the media), pronouncements and voices, and we have decided that everybody must stop it.
“There are also distortions about how stories are formulated after we have been engaged by journalists,” Mbete said, adding that they ANC had always worked according to the wishes of the party’s structures.
@luyolomkentane