Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Mkhize playing a longer game
THE RESIGNATION of KwaZulu-Natal Premier Zweli Mkhize in favour of his position as ANC treasurer-general may be the next step in an effort to raise his national profile, thereby smoothing the way for him to leapfrog Cyril Ramaphosa into the deputy presidency of the country.
Political analyst Susan Booysen said yesterday that there were many people in the ANC who did not trust Ramaphosa to protect “No 1” from the “many onslaughts”of the DA, including its bid to have the decision to drop corruption charges against Jacob Zuma reviewed by the courts.
If they wanted to confine Ramaphosa to the deputy presidency of the ANC, they had to identify another candidate to take over from Zuma as head of state when his second term expired.
Mkhize, a medical doctor, was “favoured by quite a number of people in the ANC” to become Zuma’s deputy after elections next year. “It’s getting pretty close, the great search for the reliable, loyal deputy leader is on,” Booysen said.
Mkhize announced his resignation on Thursday, saying that after “carefully considering” his dual workload as premier and ANC treasurer-general, he had decided he needed to spend more time on his duties in the party.
“It is clear to me that responsibilities associated with being the treasurergeneral require more attention and therefore I can no longer serve as the premier till the end of this term of office,” Mkhize said.
The decision was in line with the party’s constitution, which stipulated that the treasurer-general was a fulltime position.
ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu said Mkhize would be “part of the collective” responsible for “leading and resourcing” the party’s elections campaign.
Mkhize is a long-time confidante of Zuma’s.
Booysen said while there were many ANC leaders responsible for its election campaign, including Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane as head of organising and campaigns, people would want to know who would step into Zuma’s shoes in the event he stepped down, or was out of the country.
“If Kgalema Motlanthe had remained in and loyally backed the leader at Mangaung last year, this would not have been an issue, but it it is an issue now,” she said. Booysen cautioned that the promotion of Mkhize over Ramaphosa could feed into perceptions of Zulu dominance of the ruling party.
Those pushing Mkhize were aware of this disadvantage, but it would not be the first time the party had dealt with the issue as there had been the “Xhosa nostra” dominance by the Eastern Cape under Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki.
It was possible the party’s gains in the 2009 elections in KwaZulu-Natal, when it decimated the IFP and which balanced out its losses in other provinces, had almost reached the limit.
“Potentially, there is more support, but not much more support,” Booysen said, with the result that the compensatory effect of KZN in 2009 would not be available in the next elections.
However, it was possible that up to 4 percentage points of Cope’s seven percent showing in those elections (the first it contested after its founding) would revert to the ANC.