DEPUTY PRESIDENT LEADS AS ANC VOTING BEGINS
Zuma anointed his ex-wife as successor, but most of the South African party is backing Cyril Ramaphosa
Thousands of delegates from South Africa’s ANC party yesterday gathered for a five-day meeting to elect their new leader in a race considered pivotal in the country’s post-apartheid history.
But there were signs that the candidate backed by president Jacob Zuma was in serious trouble.
Mr Zuma personally anointed his former wife, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, 68, as his successor but African National Congress branches have overwhelmingly backed the deputy president, Cyril Ramaphosa.
Court challenges were upheld to disqualify provinces allied to Mr Zuma, from voting.
The 5,000 delegates started voting yesterday. The winner is expected to be announced today.
Despite an attempt to ban factional songs, the ANC Eastern Cape delegates sang victory chants aimed against Mrs Dlamini-Zuma.
While supporters put on brave faces in defence of the former African Union chairman, the display did not convince many.
Even a signature policy announcement that was trailed to boost her following – free higher education for students from poor backgrounds – was announced instead by Mr Zuma.
Commentators said that the surprise declaration was a lastditch effort to secure backing for Mrs Dlamini-Zuma.
Mr Ramaphosa, 65, a former union leader, led the negotiations in the 1990s to end apartheid before launching a business career that made him one of the country’s wealthiest men.
He is often accused of failing to confront the current leader while serving as the deputy since 2014.
Mr Zuma’s two terms have been marred by corruption scandals and, while he will step down as ANC chief, he is set to remain as head of state until general elections in 2019.
His former spouse should have a strong claim to the top job. She is arguably an ideal candidate to become South Africa’s first woman president.
As a stalwart of the liberation movement, Mrs Dlamini-Zuma has a proven record in the public service.
But she cannot shake off her association with Mr Zuma and his cronies, most notably the links to the Gupta family that has bankrolled the president and has become synonymous with state funds corruption.
Amanda Gouws, a politics professor at Stellenbosch University, told AFP that thousands of party delegates could be offered bribes for their votes.
“Zuma is very afraid of being prosecuted after he leaves office if Dlamini-Zuma doesn’t win, so he is really trying to make sure she does,” she said.
Mrs Dlamini-Zuma has strongly denied her campaign had been involved with vote-buying.
But the taint of corruption has already meant the removal of voting power from more than 500 delegates – one tenth of the total.