The ANC elective conference in December is building up to be a rematch of the 2017 contest with incumbent party president Cyril Ramaphosa seemingly strolling to re-election but recent events suggest he will face a familiar foe in a challenge to his leadership.
Former president Jacob Zuma reportedly urged the KwaZulu-Natal branch to back his ex-wife Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma against Ramaphosa at the elective conference.
Qaanitah Hunter writes that the KZN voting bloc is highly influential with the most delegates attending the elective conference but the province failed to coalesce around a single candidate during the 2017 Nasrec conference and there are signs it is making the same mistake.
Hunter writes that both NDZ and Zweli Mkhize are vying for the province’s backing and if three names end up on the ballot for ANC president then Ramaphosa will almost certainly win re-election with the votes split among Mkhize and NDZ.
Tom Eaton writes that there are similarities between the former Soviet Union and Zuma’s plan to have NDZ elected as party president. Eaton claims that NDZ would be nothing more than a puppet as leader of the party and a proxy for Zuma himself.
Meanwhile, Paddy Harper writes humorously that perhaps NDZ got a taste of power during the first two years of the pandemic when she banned cigarette and alcohol sales at various points and “ruled the country by edict”.
Harper writes that both Lindiwe Sisulu and Mkhize needed Zuma’s blessing to run for party president but neither seems to have it after the weekend’s meetings and while conventional wisdom would have dictated that NDZ doesn’t seem up to another round in the ring with Ramaphosa, Zuma’s endorsement shows ANC comrades that she’s ready for the fight.
Here’s what else we’re reading today:
Carol Paton | With debt crisis still a threat, can Treasury dial back the R350 grant? – Fin24 (for subscribers)
EDITORIAL: The other side of SA mining’s ‘mini-boom’ – Business Day (for subscribers)
Mkhwebane’s survival a result of Ramaphosa’s wavering – The Citizen (for subscribers)
A shrinking economy holds dangers to the country and its people – The Citizen (for subscribers)
The Fed should wait and see — impact of rate hikes on inflation is uncertain – Daily Maverick
