Inside the ANC’s war room
A small group of powerful men and women are tasked with ensuring that their party stays in power
THEY meet every Friday afternoon at the ANC’s Luthuli House headquarters in central Johannesburg.
Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba and his national election team have a daunting task: to deliver a resounding victory for the ruling party in what is now acknowledged as the most competitive general election since the dawn of democracy in South Africa.
The election team — essentially the ANC’s war room — gathers to take stock of how the campaign progressed during the week as well as plan for the coming days.
It is in these meetings that decisions about where President Jacob Zuma and other senior party leaders will be deployed for the week are taken. The war room drives the party’s election strategy, identifying political hot spots that need attention and deciding the campaign theme for the week.
For instance, this past week all ANC leaders canvassing for votes had, as their main message, the ruling party’s track record of delivering free housing for the poor over the past 20 years.
An ANC leader involved in the planning meetings said “it was important to identify the problem areas and deploy the leadership there”. That was why Zuma had been sent to Malamulele in Limpopo and ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe to Sterkspruit in the Eastern Cape.
Besides Gigaba, key members of the war room are former public works minister Thoko Didiza — who deputises for Gigaba in the chair; former Johannesburg mayor Amos Masondo; party spokesman Jackson Mthembu; Gauteng premier Nomvula Mokonyane; and Lindiwe Zulu,
Before, you had to depend on the availability of the officials, but now a decision has been taken that everybody puts everything aside
head of the ANC’s communications subcommittee.
Masondo is responsible for the administration side of the campaign.
Also in the team are representatives of similar war rooms that have been established in all nine provinces to ensure an ANC victory. The provincial representatives give regular reports on how the campaign is progressing in their areas.
Although the provincial structures have to take direction from the national election team and align their campaigns with the national campaign, they are given space to tweak their plan to suit local conditions.
In Gauteng, for instance, where the ruling party has an uphill battle partly owing to public anger over e-tolling as well as a strong challenge by the Democratic Alliance and newly formed Economic Freedom Fighters, provincial leaders have formed the “Moses Kotane Brigade”.
It comprises party volunteers who spend much of their time doing door-to-door visits and setting up camp at shopping centres and other public areas to canvass for votes.
So far, the war room has adopted a far less extravagant approach to winning votes than in 2009, when it spent well in excess of R100-million.
Instead of hiring luxury German cars for staff and national executive committee members, ANC campaigners are these days seen driving in Toyota Corollas and Hyundai i20s.
There is also less reliance on expensive public relations companies because the war room is in charge of the overall approach. However, advertising firm Ogilvy is responsible for producing the party’s election TV adverts and billboards.
Going into the election with the face of its campaign, Zuma, proving to be unpopular with some constituencies, the war room’s approach has been to create a campaign that is bigger than one individual.
The DA might rely heavily on Helen Zille and a handful of its leaders and the EFF depends on the popularity of its leader, Julius Malema, but the ANC insists on all its leaders going out there to win votes.
“Before, you had to depend on the availability of the officials, but now a decision has been taken that everybody puts everything aside and is available for deployment.
“That’s why we have all the officials deployed in the same area at the same time,” said an ANC insider who is part of the planning meetings.
The ruling party has also roped in outgoing deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe and popular Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula to be among the leaders to campaign on the ground.
Mbalula — who, as the previous head of national organising, ran the ANC’s 2009 campaign — has proven to be an effective campaigner.
Today, Motlanthe will attend a church service at the headquarters of the Zion Christian Church in Moria, Limpopo.
“The space was very different in 2009. There were fewer political parties and less aggression from the opposition,” said Zulu. “Lessons were learnt from the previous campaigns. Even this campaign will have lessons for the next campaign.”
The space was very different in 2009 — there were fewer political parties and less aggression from the opposition. Lessons were learnt