ANC presidential battle will be 'vicious' – Phosa

If the ANC does not table and resolve issues dividing the party in the next three months‚ the national conference in December will be the ANC’s political grave.

This is a dire warning from former ANC National Executive Committee member and former Mpumalanga premier Mathews Phosa.

“We must take the right decision now‚ in the next three months‚ and then we can define that future together. If we are going to walk into December without addressing these issues‚ we are taking the ANC to its political funeral‚” Phosa said‚ responding to a question from Times Live reporters whether he felt there was a leader in the ANC today who could bring the party back from the precipice of factionalism. 
Phosa was speaking at the opening of a photographic exhibition at the University Of Johannesburg's FADA Gallery on Thursday‚ titled “Promises and Lies”.

• 'Why I would be a good ANC president' - Mathews PhosaAfrican National Congress veteran Mathews Phosa has outlined the reasons why he would be a good president of the ruling party‚ should he proceed with his challenge for the top job. 

The exhibition‚ curated by Siona O’Connell‚ showcases a collection of photographs of the ANC in exile in Tanzania and Zambia in 1989 and 1990‚ taken by UK journalist Laurie Sparham.

The photographs were shelved soon after Sparham finished the assignment. The ANC leaders were released from prison and the photographs no longer held the interest they would have had the leaders still been behind bars.

Phosa said the larger-than-life photograph of people in ANC shirts dancing in Tanzania in 1989‚ and a young‚ smiling Jacob Zuma‚ reminded him of the values the party held back then.

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“All of a sudden we begin to realise that in 1994 we were all concerned with building a new South Africa‚ and put all these experiences [of exile] in the cupboard and shelved it away. When we look at ourselves in the mirror today‚ we don’t look like we did in 1912‚ or in 1994.” 
“The values that we believed in – we are no longer representing them.”

Phosa slammed the current NEC members for protecting President Zuma and confirmed that when ANC presidential nominations open in July‚ he would throw his hat into the ring.

“For me he [Zuma] is surviving so long at the expense of the national interest and the interest of the ANC. Where it comes from is that comrades in the NEC are not taking their responsibilities seriously. If they did they would never accept collective responsibility for corruption‚” Phosa said.

• Dlamini-Zuma lashes out at party factionalistsANC national executive committee member and presidential hopeful Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma had strong words against members of the party who promoted factionalism saying it was destroying the organisation. 

“It is wrong for us to protect one another for doing wrong things. When they decide to take the moral highway‚ he [Zuma] won’t survive.”
Phosa said a Cape Town branch [of the ANC] had last week asked if he would accept a nomination for ANC president once the official process started‚ to which he responded positively.

“I believe we need a change of direction. We need fresh political and economical leadership. We must grow our economy to create jobs‚” he told reporters.

“It will be a vicious fight. Already people are plotting and planning how to smear one another. I don’t want to stoop so low‚ but I can see it coming.

• Motlanthe urged to join ANC presidential raceFormer president Kgalema Motlanthe has been approached to raise his hand as the race to succeed President Jacob Zuma hots up. 

“Others think they will survive by smearing Cyril or the other one. I think it’s a low level of political practice.”
Phosa said the ANC could only recover if it changed course immediately.

“If we don’t change course now‚ the ANC will reach rock bottom. Before we realise it‚ in 2019‚ the ANC will be such a weak party. There are a number of scenarios; number one‚ it’s got a very narrow majority and it survives by the skin of its teeth‚” he said. 
“Or we will be drawn into coalitions. Depending on our strength at that time it could either be a dominant power in a coalition‚ or an irrelevant pipsqueak.”

The exhibition contains never-before-seen photographs of ANC stalwarts such as Chris Hani and Walter Sisulu in a period rarely documented.
It is open to the public and will run for the next few weeks.