JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa’s ruling African National Congress party kicks off its crucial national conference amid scandal and bitter divisions.
The conference opening in Johannesburg on Friday will elect party leaders and adopt key policies to govern the country. President Cyril Ramaphosa is seeking re-election as party leader at the national conference that takes place every five years and is the ANC’s top decision-making body.
The scandal surrounding Ramaphosa and factional rivalries within the ANC are expected to dominate the conference.
More than 4,000 delegates from across South Africa have gathered in Johannesburg for the five-day conference.
The conference comes as South Africa faces enormous challenges, including rolling power cuts lasting more than 7 hours a day, unemployment at 35% and slow economic growth.
While much emphasis will be placed on the election of the party’s leader and the top five ANC leadership positions, 80 members of the party’s National Executive Committee will also be chosen.
Delegates will debate key policy issues during commission sessions that will be closed to the media. These are expected to focus on policies to promote the social and economic development of the most developed economy in sub-Saharan Africa.
The policies adopted must be implemented by the country’s president, cabinet and legislature, as the ANC controls all those wings of the government.
However, debates over these policies are expected to be overshadowed by raging factional battles within the ANC that will see Ramaphosa challenged by his political rivals.
Ramaphosa has faced calls to resign his post over a damning parliamentary report that said he may have broken anti-corruption laws by hiding unreported cash dollars at his Phala Phala farm. The report questioned the origin of the funds and why the police were not informed.
This week Ramaphosa got a boost when parliament voted against the measures. to start a political trial against him for the Phala Phala scandal. However, some ANC lawmakers voted to impeach him, highlighting his opposition to Ramaphosa.
At the conference, Ramaphosa is expected to be challenged for the party leadership by Zweli Mkhize, the country’s former health minister who was forced to resign from Ramaphosa’s cabinet over corruption allegations related to COVID-19 procurement contracts.
Other leaders may be nominated for the conference seat, including Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who lost to Ramaphosa in the previous national conference leadership race in 2017.
The sharp divisions within the ANC were demonstrated on the eve of the conference by former president Jacob Zuma’s announcement that he will launch a private indictment against Ramaphosa for unspecified offences. Ramaphosa was quick to respond on Friday, saying that he “rejects with the utmost contempt Mr. Jacob Zuma’s abuse of legal process and perversion of the ‘nolle prosequi’ (private prosecution) provision.” Ramaphosa’s statement said that a private prosecution can only take place after the National Prosecutor’s Office declares that it will not prosecute a person and that has not happened.
Ramaphosa is expected to deliver the keynote address for the conference, which runs until next Tuesday.
