Is Dlamini-Zuma being groomed for president?

Published Oct 28, 2002

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Could Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma be the next president of South Africa? The suggestion is gaining momentum as the African National Congress prepares for its 51st conference in Stellenbosch in December.

ANC insiders say that Dlamini-Zuma is increasingly being positioned by President Thabo Mbeki as his right-hand person and she is tipped for the number one job following Mbeki's second term.

Dlamini-Zuma's star is rising and she is regarded as the president's second-in-command on core policy initiatives such as the New Partnership for Africa's Development, the African Union and the drive for equity in north-south relations.

Once President Mbeki has been nominated for a second term as president, as is expected in December, the political focus will turn to who he is grooming as his successor.

While political speculation will continue about challenges for the ANC presidency after Mbeki goes, a strategy to retain the leadership within Mbeki's sphere of influence will emerge in the months ahead.

Dlamini-Zuma, ANC national chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota and deputy president Jacob Zuma are seen as the leading contenders from within the party. While captains of industry Cyril Ramaphosa, Tokyo Sexwale and Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni are seen as contenders from outside the inner circle.

But signs that point toward Dlamini-Zuma include the fact that it is an open secret that her hotline to the president is hotter than the other red telephones in government.

Dlamini-Zuma's international women's award in Mexico also recognised her as a rising star both at home and abroad.

Political insiders believe that Mbeki's controversial decision to put Dlamini-Zuma in the key foreign ministry slot was a deliberate move to prepare her for the presidency.

She is at Mbeki's side on most of his foreign missions and is a regular at the annual session of the United Nations General Assembly and has played key roles in South Africa's chairing of the Non-Aligned Movement, the Commonwealth and the SADC.

She has also played a prominent role in efforts to halt violence in the Middle East and cajole the parties back to the negotiation table, as well as playing a key role in international conferences including the Women's Conference in Beijing.

Dlamimi-Zuma was also President of the UN World Conference Against Racism in Durban in 2001 and President of the Minister's Council for 2002's UN World Summit on Sustainable Development.

As chairperson of the African Union Ministers' Council, a grouping of the continent's foreign ministers, Dlamini-Zuma is basically the continent's foreign minister, although she resists the description.

She has become a respected figure in Africa where she is involved in an ambitious programme of conflict resolution in the Great Lakes area.

Dlamini-Zuma is one of a cluster of women who play crucial roles in the Mbeki cabinet. Her competition for South Africa's first woman president includes minerals and energy minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, intelligence minister Lindiwe Sisulu, public services minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, land and agriculture minister Thoko Didiza and housing minister Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele.

Dlamini-Zuma's career has been chequered though, with controversy over her health ministry term of office when she was slammed for the Sarafina funding scandal and the focus on virodene.

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