Mantashe comes out in support of Cyril in succession

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe has endorsed deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa to take over the party presidency from Jacob Zuma.

Should Zuma resist handing power over to his deputy, warned Mantashe, there would be no smooth transition but rather a “crisis” would arise in the governing party.

Mantashe was speaking at the United Apostolic Church (UAAC) in Vhembe, Limpopo, on Sunday.

Contacted for further elaboration yesterday, Mantashe said the point he was putting across was that a leadership transition that was not smooth “poses a serious risk to the organisation”.

Mantashe cited examples of how the ANC struggled to find stability in previous instances when the outgoing president resisted handing power over to their deputy.

A case in point, he said, was the 2007 Polokwane conference where former president Thabo Mbeki resisted handing power over to Zuma.

Instead, he contested Zuma and was defeated, causing unprecedented divisions and the formation of a splinter party – COPE.

This was compared with when Oliver Tambo handed over the reins to Nelson Mandela.

“It was a very smooth transition”. It also went smoothly when Mandela handed the baton to Mbeki.

To avoid a repetition of the Polokwane aftermath, Mantashe has suggested that Ramaphosa be allowed to elevate to the top job.

“If President Zuma resists handing over to Cyril Ramaphosa, there will be a crisis.

“If we elect Ramaphosa to be a president, let us have a woman deputy president. “That will be smooth.” Mantashe’s succession preference comments met criticism, with ANC KwaZulu-Natal provincial chairman Sihle Zikalala and presidential contender Dr Nkosazana DlaminiZuma leading the charge.

Dlamini-Zuma and Zikalala, who were both addressing an ANC cadres forum at the Empangeni Town Hall in the Musa Dladla region in KZN, descended on Mantashe describing his comments as “taking sides” – conduct they said was unbecoming of a secretarygeneral.

About 16km away in eSikhawini, NEC member Bheki Cele warned that hubris in the run-up to the 2019 general elections would result in the ANC’s downfall.

He used took aim at DlaminiZuma‚ her former husband’s tainted relationship with the Gupta family and factionalism eroding the support base of the ANC.

Cele made veiled reference to his support of Cyril Ramaphosa‚ who is contesting in the race. — Additional reporting by Jeff Wicks and Nkosazana Dambuza