Mantashe leaving party hot seat with mixed emotions
OUTGOING ANC secretarygeneral Gwede Mantashe said yesterday he had mixed emotions as he leaves behind a “difficult and complex” office.
He made his comments ahead of the ANC’s national elective conference in Joburg, which begins tomorrow and ends on Wednesday.
“Leaving an office I enjoyed for 10 years is a mixed feeling. It’s a very difficult office, very complex… you absorb blame for everything and do not get any credit for anything… and that’s it, we have enjoyed it… we are coming to an end,” Mantashe told reporters at Nasrec.
Despite disputes around candidate nominations, some of which have ended up in court, Mantashe said the 54th ANC national conference, where President Jacob Zuma’s successor will be elected, is going ahead as planned.
“We are quite happy that conference will go ahead, it will be successful, it won’t collapse… those who said it will collapse are probably disappointed already,” said the ANC secretary-general.
“It will be the most well organised, most engaging conference. We have the gala dinner (tonight), and on Saturday things will get running.”
The conference, labelled as the most important in the ANC’s history, will also see delegates voting for their preferred top six leaders and NEC members. The conference will examine and come up with new policies ahead of the 2019 general elections. Seven presidential hopefuls have put up their hands to take over from Zuma, with Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and former African Union Commission chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma emerging as the frontrunners for the ANC top job.
Voting for the new ANC president takes place on Saturday. – African News Agency (ANA)
ENJOYED IT: ANC secretarygeneral Gwede Mantashe