Durban — KwaZulu-Natal ANC secretary Bheki Mtolo believes that ANC presidential hopeful Zweli Mkhize will emerge as the next president of the organisation after the ANC’s national elective conference this weekend in Joburg.
In an interview Mtolo had with Newzroom Afrika around the much-anticipated congress, Mtolo said President Cyril Ramaphosa was very lucky to escape the impeachment process in Parliament on Tuesday.
“By Friday the conference is beginning,” he said.
“The only way to have the president accountable is to remove him. That is why KZN delegates will go there and remove Ramaphosa.”
Giving advice to the delegates, Mtolo said “let us not use back door tactics, but let us accept democracy”.
“Ramaphosa was elected by the conference for five years. His term ends on December 15. Anybody in the ANC who does not want him to be president anymore must … mobilise delegates to go to Nasrec and vote him out.
“Once they vote him out – that is the only way we can remove him. Not through the back door, neither the use of shenanigans. Let us go there and remove him democratically, because he was elected democratically. We are steadfast in our mission.”
Asked if ANC branch nomination numbers were anything to go by, Ramaphosa seemed to be quite a distance ahead of his challenger Dr Zweli Mkhize, “does Mtolo therefore think given what happened to Phala Phala, for a dramatic shift in the way in which those branches would vote”, Mtolo said: “I think you choose to not follow ANC politics and conferences.
“At the KZN provincial elective conference, the current deputy chairperson was nominated from the floor and the current treasurer, and they both emerged.” Various regional leaders in KZN, some of whom were nominated by 90% of branches, did not emerge at the conference, he said, because nomination was only that – a nomination.
A confident Mtolo said: “I can tell you now without fear of contradiction, that come December 20, Zweli Mkhize will be the next president of the ANC.”
University of Zululand deputy vice-chancellor: Institutional Support and political analyst Professor Sipho Seepe said the fact that Ramaphosa was way ahead of Mkhize on the branch delegates’ views, did not mean anything when it came down to the elective conference.
“The president’s impeachment exercise at Parliament might have made a lot of South Africans angry. Some delegates would rather vote for their chosen candidate on the actual day of voting.
“Mkhize stands a better chance of emerging the winner on the day, because of the recent Phala Phala scandal, seeing that he has been sincere enough when he stepped aside when facing the Digital Vibes challenges while health minister – unlike Ramaphosa, who refuses to be accountable.”
Professor Bheki Mngomezulu, a University of the Western Cape Political Studies lecturer, said branch sup - port did not mean an automatic win at the conference for a candidate.
“There is going to be a lot of campaigning and horse-trading still to take place during the conference at Nasrec,” he said.
Daily News