No plans for Motlanthe to leave: Mantashe

There has been no indication by Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe that he is planning to step down from government, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said on Thursday.

"There is no reason to indicate that [Motlanthe will step down as deputy president]," Mantashe told reporters in Bloemfontein, on the last day of the ANC's elective conference.

Mantashe said although Motlanthe was no longer deputy president of the African National Congress, and had declined a nomination for the party's national executive committee, his relationship with the party was not over.

"You can do many things in the party even if you are not in the NEC. We are not electing MPs here [in conference]. We are not reshuffling Cabinet."

ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu said he asked Motlanthe about reports he was stepping down from the government.

"I spoke to the deputy president. He just laughed and said: 'Where do they get these horror stories?'"

Mthembu said Motlanthe was deployed by the president, and would serve out the rest of his term.

"He is not that type of person [to step down]. That is not the Kgalema I know."

Cyril Ramaphosa succeeded Motlanthe as ANC deputy president on Tuesday.

According to a report by Business Day on Thursday, Mantashe said Ramaphosa would be a "de-facto prime minister" when he joined the government as deputy president in 2014.

He reportedly said Ramaphosa would hit the ground running as leader of government business.

Mantashe took issue with Business Day's report.

He told reporters it was not a given that Ramaphosa would be President Jacob Zuma's second in the government.

"There is no rule in the ANC that says that the deputy president of the ANC will be deputy president of the country," he said.

Mantashe said Ramaphosa's name was not on a parliamentary list that had been submitted to the Independent Electoral Commission and the list could only be amended next year.

"There is no Ramaphosa in the parliamentary list. We have not planned to amend the list."

During an interview with Business Day, Mantashe was asked if Ramaphosa would be deputy president.

"Cyril Ramaphosa will be deputy president. There is no policy to that effect in the ANC," Mantashe was quoted as saying.

"Cyril has acquired new skills that I have no in-depth understanding of, he is a businessman -- a shrewd businessman -- and that will give him the edge."