Three days of horse trading has shifted a chunk of delegates who arrived at the ANC elective conference to support President Cyril Ramaphosa to his contender Zweli Mkhize.
Vote counting began on Monday morning with lobbyists from Mkhize’s faction confident the results were too close to call.
After grouping their supporters together on the manicured grounds of the Nasrec expo centre, Mkhize’s faction completed a head count.
They said the head count assured them of a 60/40 split in the conference.
At this point, the KZN faction also relied on three Eastern Cape regions – Alfred Nzo, Joe Gqabi and Amathole – part of the Free State and various small support from other provinces.
Lobbying shifted to high gear in search of a further 10 to 15% to guarantee victory.
A head count however is no guarantee that people will indeed vote as instructed when they are alone in a secret ballot.
By midday on Sunday, the Mkhize faction had won over the provincial executive committees (PEC) of Limpopo and the North West.
This sparked a revolt between branch delegates and these PEC that wanted to ignore the mandates of their branches to support Ramaphosa.
It is this friction that has made this conference which started with Ramaphosa nominated by 70% of the branches to now being too close to call.
As vote counting proceeded on Monday morning, Scrolla.Africa was briefed that a head count in the Ramaphosa faction still assured them of victory by a 5 to 10% margin.
This was all due to the indecisiveness of their commander in chief.
For instance, he allowed his two closest supporters Justice Minister Ronald Lamola and EC premier Oscar Mabuyane to campaign for the same position of deputy president.
This gave their contender Paul Mashatile an advantage.
Similarly in the race for secretary general, the Ramaphosa faction went to conference with Mdumiseni Ntuli as their candidate but the leaders later imposed Transport minister Fikile Mbalula on delegates.
The decision to drop Mashatile who still commands the support of the Gauteng province further divided the Ramaphosa faction leaving the race for the ANC top job wide open.
Results of the ANC top seven are due to be announced later on Monday.
Here are the contenders:
President: Incumbent Cyril Ramaphosa and former health minister Zweli Mkhize.
Deputy President: ANC treasurer Paul Mashatile, Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane and Justice Minister Ronald Lamola.
National Chairperson: incumbent national chairperson Gwede Mantashe, Limpopo premier Stanley Mathabatha and Deputy Finance minister David Masondo.
Secretary-general: Transport minister Fikile Mbalula, former EC premier Phumulo Masualle, and former KwaZulu-Natal secretary Mdumiseni Ntuli.
First deputy secretary: Former Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane, and ANC MP Tina Joemat-Peterson.
Second deputy secretary: ANCWL national coordinator Maropene Ramokgopa, and Ronalda Nalumango.
Treasurer-general: Bejani Chauke the special adviser to the president, and Pule Mabe the national spokesperson.
Pictured above: Cyril Ramaphosa
Image source: @Patricia_Bantom
