On your marks, get set, we are ready
Survey shows Ramaphosa remains overwhelming popular choice
PREPARATIONS got under way at Nasrec Expo Centre in Johannesburg for the 54th national conference of the ANC, where candidates will battle it out for the leadership of the continent’s oldest liberation movement.
The much-anticipated conference will see seven candidates battle it out for the party’s top job as President Jacob Zuma’s second term as party president comes to an end.
Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and veteran ANC national executive committee member and former AU Commission chairperson Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, have been tipped as the front runners.
Though the five-day conference will only begin at the weekend, work got under way yesterday. When the African News Agency (ANA) visited the venue, workers had begun erecting signboards, marquees, cutting the grass, bringing in chairs and doing electrical installations at the venue.
Only construction and maintenance workers and police officers were allowed inside the conference venue at this point, with one of the maintenance managers telling ANA no one will be allowed near the venue without proper accreditation and that security will be very tight.
ANC provincial general councils to elect preferred candidates were marred by chaos and violence as members disrupted proceedings in some provinces, notably the Northern Cape, Free State and Eastern Cape.
The Johannesburg Metro Police Department yesterday indicated that there will be road closures around Nasrec. Spokesperson Wayne Minnaar said officers from all law enforcement agencies in Gauteng will be on duty at the conference.
“The officers will manage traffic on Nasrec Road, Aerodrome Road and Randburg Road, at the on- and off-ramps from the N1, N12, M1 and M2 highways,” Minaar said.
Johannesburg Emergency Management Services could not disclose which of their operations would be beefed up for the conference.
Spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi would only say that they will follow the lead of the South African Police Service.
The SAPS could also not immediately officially comment on their planned operations around the conference, with Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo saying they “will be issuing a statement” later.
Hotels and lodges in and around Johannesburg are bound to be fully booked as the ANC expects at least 4 000 delegates and more than 1 000 journalists from all over the country as well as abroad to attend the conference.
When ANA tried contacting one of largest hotel groups, Tsogo Sun, for an update on their bookings, the group declined to comment “due to the strict and stringent safety control measures we have in place” that protects the privacy of guests.
• According to a poll, the outcome of the ANC’s elective conference could have a devastating impact on the party’s parliamentary majority.
A survey conducted by Ratepop, a technology-based research and polling company focused on the consequences of the ANC’s leadership race ahead of the national elections in 2019, found Ramaphosa remains the “overwhelming” popular choice of the ANC electorate with support of 58.9%, compared to 16% for Dlamini Zuma.
Ratepop sampled 2 100 South Africans who voted for the ANC in the 2016 local government elections, including rural, urban and metropolitan voters of different ages.
THE outcome of the ANC’s elective conference this weekend could have a devastating impact on the party’s parliamentary majority, according to a poll.
The survey conducted by Ratepop, a technology-based research and polling company, focusing on the consequences of the ANC’s leadership race before the national elections in 2019, found that Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa remained the “overwhelming” popular choice of the ANC electorate, with support of 58.9% compared with 16% for Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.
Ratepop sampled 2 100 South Africans who voted for the ANC in the 2016 local government elections, including rural, urban and metropolitan voters of different ages.
“With the ANC only having polled approximately 54% in the 2016 local government elections, the chances of the ANC maintaining its parliamentary majority with Dlamini Zuma at the helm are substantially reduced and realistically unlikely at this point,” the survey found with four days before the ANC’s national elective conference begins.
Supporters of opposition parties were also polled on how they would vote in the 2019 elections if Ramaphosa or Dlamini Zuma were elected president of the ANC.
Results showed that 6.9% of DA black African voters would vote for a Dlamini Zuma-led ANC, while 50.9% said they would vote for the ANC under Ramaphosa.
The research also found a Ramaphosa presidency would have a devastating effect on the EFF as 43.4% of EFF black African voters said they would vote for the ANC under Ramaphosa, while 3.4% would vote ANC should Dlamini Zuma win.
Dlamini Zuma’s staunch supporters, the ANC Youth League in KwaZulu-Natal, believe the party has the capacity to canvass and win votes collectively regardless of who wins the succession race.
“This race is a democratic process of the ANC.
“It has less impact on the support of the ANC on the ground because South Africans support the ANC as an organisation, not which individual is leading it,” said spokesperson Mandla Shange.
Political analyst Somadoda Fikeni warned it was dangerous to ignore polls.
“If there seems to be a negative perception towards a certain candidate, they should look at what the causes are and begin to work on that,” he said.
Fikeni said Dlamini Zuma’s reluctance to speak out against state capture and the Gupta family, which is generally seen as symbolic of a corrupt patronage system, contributed to the way voters received her.
“Never criticising Zuma for some of his obvious controversies, they (voters) simply see her as an extension of the current malice.
“Had she ran on her record, had she become independent, had she risen above the factions, I’m almost certain that she would have gained a wider appeal,” Fikeni said.