ANC tradition will decide leadership

The election of President Jacob Zuma's successor will not be based on family connections, but on ANC tradition.

That's the word from the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal, which ended its executive committee lekgotla in Durban yesterday.

ANC KwaZulu-Natal chairman Sihle Zikalala told the media that party branches would decide who succeeded Zuma.

"The election for the leader of the ANC will be based on traditions of the ANC. It will not be based on the fact that you are born into a particular family or you are related to a particular family," he said.

The ANC in the province is understood to have thrown its weight behind former African Union chairman Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to succeed her former husband. That means Dlamini-Zuma will contest Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa for the position.

But Zikalala said ANC branches must be allowed to debate the leadership issue.

"When the time comes we will meet the branches and get feedback from them, and then be able to articulate clearly on who must lead the ANC."

He said that in the past the party elected leaders knowing that their fathers were leaders in the ANC - a reference to former president Thabo Mbeki, whose father, Govan, was a senior ANC leader.

"In the ANC we treat cadres on their merit and capabilities to lead the revolution, not on the basis of association," Zikalala said.