The ANC on Tuesday released the final list of nominees for its six top posts, including party chairman, vice-chairman and general secretary, for its powerful national executive committee (NEC) ahead of the national conference to be held from 16 to on December 16. twenty.
Whoever emerges as party chairman would become state chairman, should the ANC win a majority in a general election scheduled for 2024.
The ANC said 3,543 out of a total of 3,982 branches in good standing held meetings to select their top six candidates.
Ramaphosa, who replaced his predecessor Jacob Zuma as state president in 2018 by pledging to overcome rampant state corruption, won 2,037 votes from the branches but can still face challengers nominated from the plenary, officials said.
“As you know, at the conference, delegates will have the opportunity to nominate from the floor…of course, any candidate who has 25% of the delegates eligible to vote will also be on the ballot,” said Kgalema Motlanthe, representative ANC election. her boss said at a press conference.
According to the ANC, Ramaphosa handily beat out Zweli Mkhize, a former health minister who resigned after being implicated in corruption allegations related to departmental work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mkhize has denied any wrongdoing.
A union leader turned businessman, Ramaphosa is widely seen as the ANC’s best chance to improve its performance in the 2024 general election and stem a slide in electoral support that plunged below 50% in the municipal polls of the Last year for the first time since the first in South Africa. democratic elections in 1994.
(Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Editing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
