Wednesday, December 19, 2012

The ANC Elects Top Leadership at Manguang

Mangaung: The ANC's newly elected top six

The ANC's elected top six leaders has yielded no surprises, with party president Jacob Zuma retaining his position at the helm.

18 Dec 2012 12:18 - Deshnee Subramany

ANC president Jacob Zuma was re-elected to the presidency of the ruling party on Tuesday. Here's a round-up of the top six leaders of the ANC's national executive committee.

The results indicated that the members had voted strictly according to slates, with the Zuma slates averaging at 3 000 votes to Motlanthe's 900 votes. The Motlanthe votes were split in the deputy president's position, with Mathews Phosa receiving 470 votes to Tokyo Sexwale's 470. Interestingly, Zuma received just under 3 000 votes – 2 978 – while his new deputy received just over 3 000, vindicating the Zuma lobby's strategy to use Cyril Ramaphosa as a popular drawcard in an environment where Zuma is under pressure on several fronts.

Motlanthe and those on his list have to wait and see if they will make it onto the national executive committee. Voting for the committee takes place later on Tuesday.

President: Jacob Zuma

Jacob Zuma has been re-elected for a second term to the party top spot after a landslide victory of 2 978 votes against Kgalema Motlanthe (991).

Hailing from Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal, the former trade unionist served as KwaZulu-Natal economic affairs and tourism minister. In 1999 he was appointed deputy president of the country until 2005, when the position was taken over by Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.

Zuma was elected president at the party's Polokwane conference in 2007.

Zuma's second term as party leader comes amid the controversy of his Nkandla homestead, estimated to be costing about R250-million in state funds, as well as a court ruling in favour of opposition party Democratic Alliance to release alleged spy tapes that led to the dropping of corruption charges against him.

Deputy president: Cyril Ramaphosa

Cyril Ramaphosa has been elected as the deputy president of the ruling party with 3 018 votes after competing against Tokyo Sexwale (470) and Mathews Phosa (470).

He is a businessman, lawyer, ANC national executive committee member and chairperson of the party's national disciplinary committee of appeals.

Also a former trade unionist, Ramaphosa became secretay general of the ANC in 1991 and was a key player in the negotiations that led to the ending of apartheid. In 1994 Ramaphosa chaired the Constitutional Assembly, which drafted South Africa's new Constitution.

In 1997, Ramaphosa resigned from politics and moved on to business interests.

He is currently the executive chairperson of the Shanduka Group and is also a director at Lonmin, which owns the Marikana mine where 34 striking workers were shot and killed by police.

Secretary general: Gwede Mantashe

Gwede Mantashe retained the position of secretary general with 3 058 votes of the ruling party and went up against Fikile Mbalula (908).

Mantashe was assistant general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers from 1994 until 1998, when he was elected general secretary.

In May 2006, he stepped down as the general secretary.

In 2007, Mantashe was elected chairperson of the the South African Communist Party and served as a member of the party's central committee.

At the ANC's national conference in Polokwane in 2007, Mantashe succeeded party deputy president Motlanthe as secretary general.

Deputy secretary general: Jessie Duarte

Jessie Duarte, in charge of ANC communications, was elected uncontested after Thandi Modise withdrew her nomination on Monday.

Duarte was an assistant to former president Nelson Mandela. She resigned from the presidency in 2010.

National chairperson: Baleka Mbete

Baleka Mbete retained her position as national chairperson of the national executive committee with 3 010 votes, after going up against Thandi Modise (939).

She served as deputy president of South Africa when Kgalema Motlanthe took over the presidency from Mbeki after his resignation in 2008.

Mbete was elected party chairperson at the 2007 Polokwane conference, and held the position of speaker of National Assembly between 2004 and 2008.

Treasury general: Zweli Mkhize

Zweli Mkhize won the election to the top six position with 2 988 votes against Paul Mashatile (961).

The KwaZulu-Natal chair became a member of the ANC's national executive committee in 1997. He was provincial health minister in KZN from 1994 to 2004 and moved to head the finance and economic development provincial department in 2005. He was elected premier of the province in 2009.

Mkhize chaired of the 2010 World Cup oversight committee and is currently the chairperson of the party's national education and health sub-comittee.

The exact numbers will be verified as the numbers could not be heard properly due to celebrations interrupting the announcements.

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