Wikipedia

55th National Conference of the African National Congress

The 55th National Conference of the African National Congress (ANC) was a party conference of the African National Congress, a political party in South Africa, that took place from 16 to 20 December 2022, at the Johannesburg Expo Centre in Nasrec, Gauteng.[1][2] Attended by 4,426 voting delegates,[3] the conference elected the party's 87-member National Executive Committee, including the top officials – for the first time referred to as the "Top Seven," rather than the "Top Six," following an amendment to the party's constitution to introduce a second deputy secretary-general position. Delegates also adopted resolutions on governance and policy, informed by the outcomes of the ANC's 6th National Policy Conference held in July 2022.[4]

55th National Conference of the African National Congress
← 2017 16–20 December 2022 (2022-12-16 – 2022-12-20) 2027 →
4,426 party delegates
50% + 1 votes needed to win
 
Candidate Cyril Ramaphosa Zweli Mkhize
Delegate vote 2,476 1,897
Percentage 56.62% 43.38%
President before election

Cyril Ramaphosa

 Elected President

Cyril Ramaphosa

At the conference, Cyril Ramaphosa, the incumbent President of South Africa, was re-elected as ANC president, defeating a challenge from Zweli Mkhize. He thereby became the party's presumptive presidential candidate at the next national general election in 2024. Paul Mashatile was elected his deputy.

Conference opening

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The theme of the conference was "Defend and advance the gains of freedom: unity through renewal".[5] The conference venue, when it opened on 16 December, was exempted from the load-shedding affecting most residential areas of the country.[6] The request for Nasrec to be excluded from load-shedding was made by SAPS' National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure in order to assist security operations in the area during the conference.[7] Early proceedings of the conference were nonetheless significantly delayed and outgoing ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa did not begin delivering his political report to the conference until late afternoon, seven hours after initially scheduled.[8] His speech was then disrupted by the late entrance of former ANC president Jacob Zuma and by a small group of hecklers, primarily from the party's KwaZulu-Natal branches, who sang and jeered loudly until an intervention by KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Chairperson Siboniso Duma.[8][9]

Outgoing ANC deputy president David Mabuza delivered the party's organisational report, traditionally delivered by the secretary-general, because the incumbent secretary-general, Ace Magashule, was suspended from the party.[10] Mabuza reported that the ANC's membership had dropped significantly since the last party conference, from 989,736 members in good standing in December 2017 to 661,489 at the time of his report.[11]

Electoral process

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Ahead of the conference, rules for the election of the National Executive Committee (NEC) and Top Six were devised by a committee chaired by Kgalema Motlanthe, a former President of South Africa and a former deputy president of the ANC. The rules, published in August 2022, effected several significant changes to the ANC's internal election procedures, First, they disqualified from top leadership positions any ANC members who had been charged with or found guilty of "unethical or immoral conduct, or any serious crime, or corruption".[1] For example, on these grounds ANC Women's League leader Bathabile Dlamini was disqualified from standing for re-election to the NEC.[12] The new rules also prohibited NEC candidates from campaigning as an organised slate and required all campaigns to submit full financial records for inspection by the party's internal Electoral Committee.[1][13]

The Electoral Committee also announced that the election of the Top Six officials – which previously occurred in a single poll, with one ballot paper – would proceed in two stages in 2022: the president, secretary-general, national chairperson, and treasurer-general would be elected in the first ballot; and the deputy president and deputy secretary-general would be elected in the second, after the results of the first ballot have been announced.[1][14] The revised procedure was expected to complicate the system of slate campaigning that prevailed in internal ANC elections, since unsuccessful candidates in the first ballot would be able to stand in the second ballot; however, most centrally, the committee framed the procedure as a means of allowing voters to balance the Top Six for representativity (in terms of age and ethnic or regional blocs) and gender parity.[1][13] Once the conference began, however, this proposal was abandoned in favour of the traditional single ballot. Delegates at the conference also amended the party constitution to change the composition of the Top Six: a second deputy secretary-general position was created, resulting in a new "Top Seven".[15]

As before, the NEC elections were subject to a gender quota – requiring 40 of its 80 members to be women.[1][16]

Leadership campaigns

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Ramaphosa campaign

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President Cyril Ramaphosa's bid for re-election was endorsed by leaders in six of the ANC's nine provinces.

Ramaphosa's bid for re-election as ANC president was labelled the CR22 campaign and involved a "formidable" social media campaign under the banner of #Renewal22.[17] The campaign identified its four priorities as social and economic transformation; "clean, accountable and effective" leadership; public safety; and the completion of Ramaphosa's project of "renewing" the ANC internally.[18] By the beginning of November 2022, Ramaphosa's bid for re-election was endorsed by the provincial leadership of the ANC in six of nine provinces: the Northern Cape, the Eastern Cape, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West, and Gauteng.[19][20]

In October, a slate of Top Six candidates circulated, reportedly based on consultations between Ramaphosa's supporters in the incumbent NEC; for example, Derek Hanekom, who is closely involved in the CR22 campaign, endorsed the slate on Twitter.[21][22] The slate proposed Ramaphosa as ANC president, Senzo Mchunu as his deputy, incumbent Gwede Mantashe as party chairperson, Fikile Mbalula as secretary-general, Febe Potgieter as deputy secretary-general, and Gwen Ramokgopa as treasurer-general.[23][24]

Other contenders

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Minister of Tourism Lindiwe Sisulu, former Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize, and Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma all sought to garner public support for their presidential bids,[25][26] as did the incumbent ANC deputy president, national Deputy President David Mabuza.[27][28] Mkhize and Dlamini-Zuma were viewed as contesting with each other for popularity in the province of KwaZulu-Natal,[26] which was the ANC's largest province and would therefore send the largest number of voting delegates to the conference.[29] Although Dlamini-Zuma's campaign was publicly endorsed by former President Jacob Zuma,[30] the KwaZulu-Natal provincial leadership said in late September that it preferred Mkhize.[31][32] Outgoing ANC treasurer-general Paul Mashatile was also identified as a possible candidate for the presidency,[33] but, more prominently, was endorsed for the deputy presidency by the provincial leadership of the ANC's Limpopo,[34] Gauteng,[19] and KwaZulu-Natal[31] caucuses.[35]

Provinces also lobbied for their favoured candidates to move into Top Six positions, though not necessarily the presidency; those candidates included David Makhura (Gauteng),[34] Stan Mathabatha (Limpopo) for chairperson,[34] Ronald Lamola (Mpumalanga) for deputy president,[27] and Oscar Mabuyane (Eastern Cape) for deputy president.[22] Former President Zuma said publicly that he was willing to accept nominations for the chairmanship,[30] and suspended secretary-general Ace Magashule said that he expected to make a comeback at the conference.[36]

Nominations

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So-called branch nominations – nominations voted on by the ANC's local branches – opened on 7 September 2022;[1][37] they were initially scheduled to end on 2 October, but the deadline was extended twice when many branches faced delays in holding meetings.[38] Each branch was allowed to nominate one candidate for each of the Top Six positions (president, deputy president, chairperson, secretary general, deputy secretary general and treasurer), and the branch nominations were consolidated to develop a list of the three most popular nominees for each Top Six position, as well as the 200 most popular nominees for the NEC.[29][37] This was a slight change from previous years, when branch nominations were first consolidated at the provincial level.[2] The ANC's Electoral Committee, led by Kgalema Motlanthe, also screened and vetted all nominees.[2][37]

On 22 November 2022, the Electoral Committee announced the consolidated nominations list for the Top Six positions. The branches' nominees were:[39]

Position Candidate Nominations
President Cyril Ramaphosa 2,037
Zweli Mkhize 916
Deputy President Paul Mashatile 1,791
Ronald Lamola 427
Oscar Mabuyane 397
National Chairperson Stanley Mathabatha 1,492
Gwede Mantashe 978
David Masondo 501
Secretary General Mdumiseni Ntuli 1,225
Phumalo Masualle 889
Fikile Mbalula 749
Deputy Secretary General Nomvula Mokonyane 1,779
Febe Potgieter-Gqubule 905
Treasurer General Bejani Chauke 552
Pule Mabe 428
Mzwandile Masina 348

Further changes to the nominations list were made when the conference opened as four additional candidates – a historic number, according to the Business Day[40] – were nominated from the floor of the plenary in the early hours of 18 December. The candidates for presidency, deputy presidency, national chairperson, and secretary general were confirmed as expected, though Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma declined a nomination for the presidency from the floor and incumbent David Mabuza declined a nomination for the deputy presidency from the floor.[41]

Unexpectedly, however, the Electoral Committee announced that Febe Potgieter-Gqubule, the Ramaphosa-aligned candidate for deputy secretary general, had declined her nomination by email, apparently leaving Nomvula Mokonyane to assume the post without contest. Two other possible candidates, Ambassador Vuyiswa Tulelo and Gwen Ramokgopa, declined nominations from the floor.[40] After some delay, the Northern Cape delegation nominated Tina Joemat-Pettersson, a Member of Parliament and former minister, to stand against Mokonyane; Joemat-Pettersson accepted.[42]

The conference had also amended the party's constitution to introduce a second deputy secretary general position, and two candidates, Maropene Ramokgopa and Ronalda Nalumango, were nominated from the floor for that office.[41] Ramokgopa was Ramaphosa's special advisor on international relations in the Presidency,[43] while Nalumango was an ANC councillor in the Cape Winelands District Municipality[44] and co-led the ANC's Western Cape branch as coordinator of its interim leadership corps.[45]

Finally, all three initial treasurer-general candidates accepted their nominations, and they were joined by Gwen Ramokgopa, who was nominated from the floor. Andile Lungisa was nominated from the floor but immediately disqualified due to his suspension from the party, and Lindiwe Sisulu accepted a nomination from the floor but failed to meet the required threshold of support from delegates present.[41] Although Mzwandile Masina accepted his nomination and was included on the ballot paper, he later announced – on the evening of 18 December – that he would withdraw from the race and endorse Pule Mabe for the position; he said that they both supported Zweli Mkhize's candidacy for the presidency and that since they were both from Gauteng province, they did not wish to stand against each other and risk splitting the province's vote.[46]

Leadership election

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After several delays,[47] voting to elect the Top Seven officials began in the evening of Sunday 18 December and continued into the night.[48][49] The results of the election, as announced on 19 December, were as follows (with winners in bold):[50]

Position Candidate Votes
President Cyril Ramaphosa 2,476 56.62%
Zweli Mkhize 1,897 43.38%
Deputy President Paul Mashatile 2,178 50.06%
Ronald Lamola 315 7.24%
Oscar Mabuyane 1,858 42.7%
National Chairperson Stanley Mathabatha 2,018 46.28%
Gwede Mantashe 2,062 47.29%
David Masondo 280 6.42%
Secretary General Mdumiseni Ntuli 1,080 24.76%
Phumalo Masualle 1,590 36.45%
Fikile Mbalula 1,692 38.79%
First Deputy Secretary General Nomvula Mokonyane 2,195 50.58%
Tina Joemat-Pettersson 2,145 49.42%
Second Deputy Secretary General Maropene Ramokgopa 2,373 54.92%
Ronalda Nalumango 1,948 45.08%
Treasurer General Bejani Chauke 590 13.62%
Pule Mabe 1,652 38.13%
Mzwandile Masina 281 6.49%
Gwen Ramokgopa 1,809 41.76%

All of the winning candidates were aligned to Ramaphosa during the campaigning phase, except for Mokonyane and Mashatile.[50][51]

National Executive Committee

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On the final day of the Conference delegates were required to vote in the top 80 leaders of the highest decision making body of the ANC, the National Executive Committee. The additional members list consists of[52]

Rank First Name Last Name Gender Total
1 Zikalala Sihle M 2218
2 Manana Mduduzi M 2152
3 Lamola Ronald M 2115
4 Ntuli Mdumiseni M 2075
5 Cele Bheki M 2022
6 Mchunu Senzo M 1932
7 Gigaba Malusi M 1856
8 Mabe Pule M 1806
9 Kodwa Zizi M 1792
10 Makhura David M 1772
11 Lungisa Andile M 1758
12 Kubayi Mmamoloko F 1730
13 Joemat-Pettersson Tina F 1726
14 Ndabeni-Abrahams Stella F 1719
15 Nkadimeng Thembi F 1681
16 Mkhize Zweli M 1673
17 Lekganyane Soviet M 1653
18 Potgieter Febe F 1606
19 Godongwana Enoch M 1554
20 Besani Sibongile M 1546
21 Kekana Pinky F 1518
22 Manamela Buti M 1503
23 Mahlobo David M 1486
24 Mathale Cassel M 1478
25 Majodina Pemmy F 1470
26 Zulu Lindiwe F 1451
27 Motsoaledi Aaron M 1448
28 Diko Khusela F 1439
29 Dlamini Bathabile F 1430
30 Masualle Phumulo M 1425
31 Masina Mzwandile M 1408
32 Modise Thandi F 1405
33 Dlamini-Zuma Nkosazana F 1402
34 Gungubele Mondli M 1369
35 Didiza Thoko F 1362
36 Tau Parks M 1362
37 Bapela Obed M 1340
38 Mahumapelo Supra M 1336
39 Maswanganyi Joe M 1317
40 Mahambehlala Tandi F 1316
41 Masondo David M 1304
42 Madikizela Babalo M 1286
43 Kieviet Noxolo F 1275
44 Nzuza Njabulo M 1275
45 Masemola Dickson M 1268
46 Nkabane Nobuhle F 1248
47 Nkonyeni Peggy F 1248
48 Creecy Barbara F 1242
49 Ramokgopa Kgosientsho Sputla M 1229
50 Ntshavheni Khumbudzo F 1204
51 Phaahla Joe M 1204
52 Sisulu Lindiwe F 1187
53 Boshielo Polly F 1182
54 Godlimpi Zuko M 1172
55 Mhlauli Nonceba F 1168
56 Makwetla Thabang M 1167
57 Kekana Nkenke M 1158
58 Selamolela Donald M 1143
59 Xaba Cyril M 1128
60 Chikunga Sindisiwe F 1112
61 Legoete Dakota M 1111
62 Chauke Benjani M 1106
63 Ntshalintshali Lindiwe F 1092
64 Gcabashe Lungi F 1091
65 Mafu Nocawe F 1081
66 Nalumango Ronalda F 1067
67 Pule Dina F 1061
68 Maimela Joy F 1058
69 Motshekga Angie F 1052
70 Bhengu Mahlengi F 1038
71 Tshwete Pam F 1024
72 Letsatsi-Duba Dipuo F 1014
73 Mtshweni-Tsipane Refilwe F 1008
74 Meth Nomakhosazana F 997
75 Muthambi Faith F 992
76 Capa Nokuzola Zoleka F 986
77 Tolashe Sisisi F 973
78 Mhaule Reginah F 972
79 Siwela Violet F 969
80 Moraka Thandi F 946

References

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