ANC’s selection process of leaders needs attention – Ramaphosa

As the race to succeed Jacob Zuma as president of the African National Congress (ANC) heats up, his deputy Cyril Ramaphosa says the party’s national elective conference later this year should discuss how to change the way leaders are elected.

The deputy president who’s currently attending the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, reportedly said the issue of factions and slates possibly creating a split within the ANC will have to be discussed at the December conference.

Speaking to EWN on Thursday he said the way the contest is run cannot be changed before then.

“For now we have to stick to what has been decided, we have to stick to the rules and the conventions that have been established over generations and generations,” he said.

Ramaphosa also said he will abide by the national working committee’s (NWC) resolution that the governing party’s members and leagues should refrain from naming candidates they’ll support for party president and other positions.

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ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte on Tuesday said the most important focus for the party’s structures should be on values and not names.

“We are hoping that if we can minimise the utilisation of factions, we will be able to produce a list that is nationally representative of a broad spectrum of ideas and people in our society. That is why we are asking people not to talk about names but to talk about values.”

Ramaphosa and outing going African Union Commission chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma have been seen as the frontrunners to succeed Zuma, although other names have also been touted for the top job.

While he may not  have formally declared his candidacy to run for office, last month Ramaphosa said that he is “available to stand” if he were to be nominated by ANC branches.

He has the backing of the party’s biggest alliance partner, the Congress of SA trade unions (Cosatu), while Dlamini-Zuma is said to have the support of her ex-husband and the so-called “Premier’s League” – an informal ANC lobby group led by the premiers and provincial chairpersons from Mpumalanga, North West, and Free State linked to Zuma.