African National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma on Friday denied there was any structure or league in the ruling party holding a "kingmakers" status.
Delivering his political report to the national general council (NGC), Zuma said the party had to address the reported existence of the "the so-called kingmakers in the ANC".
"This notion undermines the internal democracy and authority and centrality of the branches of the ANC," he said.
"Competition must not take away the fundamental right of branches to decide on the leadership of the ANC."
His comments come when there was talk of a strong ANC lobby group dubbed the "premier league" though Zuma did not use the term.
It was believed the premier league included North West premier Supra Mahumapelo, Free State premier Ace Magashule and Mpumalanga premier David Mabuza. Their plan was to entrench themselves as leaders or kingmakers for 2017 when Zuma's successor would be elected.
It was also believed the group wanted Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to lead the ANC and block deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa from taking over from Zuma.
Zuma on Friday also warned against untoward means to sway voting of leaders.
"Anything such as the use of money... to manipulate the outcomes of the electoral processes in the organisation are totally unacceptable. An effective weapon of dealing with negative tendencies is for political education to be enhanced," he said.
The existence of factions intensified in periods leading up to elective conferences and people had difference leadership preferences.
Zuma said people should not take these differences personally.
"Once they become personal they become a problem for the organisation and once people need to form factions to push their positions, it also becomes a problem."
Once a decision was made , it was binding on all members, even those who initially opposed it, he added.
Source: News24
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