ANC bigwigs ‘plot’ to oust leadership

ANC bigwigs ‘plot’ to oust leadership
07 April 2010
FAVOURITE: Fikile Mbalula
Mbalula group maps out 2012 takeover
Key ANC members are on a trail to dismantle the current ANC leadership come 2012.
The move entails completely overhauling the ANC leadership in 2012 – giving the nationalists more power and neutralising the left, which is accused of trying to hijack the ruling party.
Part of the initiative includes replacing current general secretary Gwede Mantashe – who is also chairperson of the SACP – with ANC head of campaigns Fikile Mbalula.
President Jacob Zuma recently attempted to put a lid on the leadership succession debate, saying it would “create disunity and factionalism, as well as erode the party’s organisational structure and tradition”.
Zuma also lashed out at members who were campaigning for Mantashe’s removal.
“An attack on the general secretary hits at the belly of the ANC. We do not attack the general secretary of the ANC, it is never done, and it is not the tradition of our movement.”
Sowetan has learnt that the debate had merely gone underground, with some ANC national executive members calling for the complete overhaul of the party’s leadership.
According to Mbalula’s lobby group – which includes both members of the NEC and ANCYL – only Zuma and Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe will be guaranteed to retain their positions come 2012.
A member of the lobby group said the current leadership was the result of compromises made in Polokwane to oust former president Thabo Mbeki.
“We compromised on a number of positions and that is the main reason why the ANC is being ambushed by the left. Everyone knows that Gwede Mantashe was a compromise at Polokwane.”
The Mbalula camp prefers the following leaders:
President – Jacob Zuma
Deputy President – Kgalema Motlanthe
National Chairperson – Bathabile Dlamini or Angie Motshekga
Treasurer-general – Jeff Radebe
General Secretary – Fikile Mbalula
Deputy Secretary – Bathabile Dlamini or Angie Motshekga
While current treasurer-general Mathew Phosa has had a fallout with Mbalula and the youth league, Tokyo Sexwale, who was previously regarded with suspicion for his presidential ambitions, is gaining popularity within the ANCYL.
ANC spokesperson Ishmael Mnisi said the party was not aware of the lobbying, adding members who disregarded the ANC instruction against debating leadership succession in the party would be disciplined.
He said the ANC would present guidelines for lobbying before its national general congress in September in Durban.