Call to look beyond NEC for next ANC president

ANC head of elections Mdumiseni Ntuli has stirred the party’s succession debate, suggesting it may need to look beyond its ailing national executive committee (NEC) for its next president.

In an interview with the Sunday Times this week on the sidelines of the ANC’s national general council (NGC), Ntuli said no current NEC member would qualify or be acceptable to stand as ANC president in 2027 if the party performed badly in the coming local government elections.

Ntuli, one of the ANC’s most senior leaders and a member of both the NEC and the national working committee (NWC), said the only measure of qualification would be how the party was led next year

“[The only condition] to qualify any of us in the NEC — or to even imagine being anything in 2027 — is how we lead the organisation in 2026,” he said.

Last week the Sunday Times reported that National Assembly speaker Thoko Didiza was the third name being considered to succeed President Cyril Ramaphosa as ANC president. Party secretary-general Fikile Mbalula and Deputy President Paul Mashatile have been the two most frequently mentioned potential successors. Business mogul Patrice Motsepe was previously reported to have been lobbied to stand for the position, but he recently announced he would not do so.

For anyone to stand up after elections next year when the ANC has not attained a majority and say, ‘I want to be president,’ no ... serious member of the ANC would consider that person credible — except an opportunist who will want to lead at all cost.

—  Mdumiseni Ntuli, ANC head of elections

Ntuli said some within the party had taken its declining support in the polls for granted. The NEC’s performance in last year’s national election — which led to the ANC losing its majority for the first time since 1994 — was a “huge indictment” of the structure, he said.

“We inherited an organisation that was leading the country at 57%, and we brought it down to 40%. It’s going to be a huge indictment if we go to elections next year and are unable to even maintain what we have. For anyone to stand up after elections next year when the ANC has not attained a majority and say, ‘I want to be president,’ no ... serious member of the ANC would consider that person credible — except an opportunist who will want to lead at all costs.”

Ntuli said NEC members should feel “very ashamed” to even consider leading the party post-2027, given their performance so far.

“If we were thinking about people who are not in the NEC, if we were saying that given our condition, maybe let’s go outside the NEC and [see] if there’s a leader of society that we believe might be a solution to the challenges that we face, then that would be a genuine conversation. But among ourselves — who have taken the ANC from 57% to 40% [and are] already positioning one another for positions — it says a lot about who we are and how society should understand us.”

Ntuli criticised what he said was a lack of work in attending to the state of the party, which was grappling with the quality of its membership.

“If you do not have a good quality of membership, it’s going to impact the quality of leadership we are going to have in that branch, which has a responsibility to recruit that membership and to build the NEC and PEC [provincial executive committee].

“That we are ... communicating negatively about the work of ANC structures, from the NEC down to branches ... shows we are not making the necessary impact. I believe the NGC will mandate us to look at different ways to rebuild or enhance the existing interventions, including the foundation course.”

Speaking at a media briefing during the NGC, Mbalula said the ANC had no reason to fix what was not broken — referring to the NEC’s earlier decision to expand the government of national unity (GNU) by including parties, such as ActionSA, that supported the budget.

He said there had been no challenges from GNU partners’ leaders since their last meeting and that the midterm budget had passed without any problems.

“How can you tell me this does not showcase the stability of the GNU?” Mbalula asked.

But Ntuli contradicted Mbalula, saying the decision still stood, but the NWC — mandated to work on its implementation — had not finalised implementation details. “The NEC has not reviewed its decision,” he said. “It will be the NEC that may decide in future, for whatever reasons, that we want to review our own decision. But as it stands, the decision is in place.

“The implementation may be slow because of various factors ... but the decision is in place; it remains a decision of the NEC until the NEC decides to rescind it.”