By Caiphus Kgosana and Moshoeshoe Monare
Some in the ANC Youth League want to replace ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe with police deputy minister Fikile Mbalula, while a debate on the future of SACP leader Blade Nzimande is raging within the organisation.
Cosatu also faces its own succession questions when it heads to its congress in spring, but early indications are that general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi and other officials will return for another term.
A few individuals among the youth league leaders have privately expressed their wish to unseat Mantashe at the ANC's centenary conference in 2012, and install Mbalula, a former league president.
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Mantashe this week dismissed "any lobbyists" for his position.
"It does not matter to me, 2012 is another term. It is not a big deal with me national conferences of the ANC are held every five years to elect new leaders. Nobody is elected for 10 years.
"There will be nominations then lobby groups can start, but it is too late," he said.
A tense relationship between the youth league and Mantashe is reaching ugly proportions, with the league opposing ruling party leaders at almost every turn.
The latest was on Thursday over service delivery protests, with the league saying "dismissing the protests as unfounded will not help resolve the situation".
"Leaders of the ANC government in all spheres should visit these communities to properly understand their concerns and address their challenges in a more suitable way."
The statement could be interpreted as responding to Mantashe's Monday briefing that some of the protests were merely infighting and not genuine service delivery protests.
But Floyd Shivambu, the league spokesman, said their views had nothing to do with succession.
"That issue of succession, I am hearing it for the first time. We have always spoken our minds," he said.
Meanwhile, some individuals in the SACP are pushing for Nzimande - the higher education minister - to be replaced when the party holds a special congress in December.
Gauteng chairman Nkosiphendule Kolisile tacitly pointed to the party's constitution, which says that the general secretary's position is full- time.
SACP spokesman Malesela Maleka said: "The special congress will not elect another general secretary."
In another related development, a provincial Cosatu leader believes that Cosatu officials, including Vavi and president S'dumo Dlamini, could be returned unopposed when the union holds its conference in September.
- This article was originally published on page 4 of Tribune on July 26, 2009
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