The head office of the African National Congress has weighed into the succession debate, by expressing support for the Gauteng ANC, which has publicly raised the issue for debate.
ANC Youth League president Fikile Mbalula and ANC KwaZulu-Natal leader S’bu Ndebele roundly condemned Gauteng for daring to suggest that the discussion on succession start now — ahead of the 2007 congress where new leadership will be elected.
Last week Mbalula described those calling for the debate as disloyal to ANC traditions, and trying to “sneak foreign concepts into the organisation”. His comments left a bitter taste in the mouths of some Gauteng leaders, who felt he was being disrespectful and portraying himself as a national leader.
Leaders of the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party interpreted the debate as a challenge to Jacob Zuma’s readiness to be the next ANC president. They came out strongly in support of him.
The public wrangling has prompted Luthuli House to say that it welcomes and encourages Gauteng’s proposals.
On Thursday the ANC issued a statement saying Gauteng had merely proposed that the organisation discuss improving its approach to issues of cadre deployment and leadership succession.
“The debate that the Gauteng discussion document recommends is a broad political discussion about the systems the ANC has for dealing with matters of leadership renewal and deployment. As such, it is a debate that is welcomed and encouraged.
“The document is not, as has been rather sensationally claimed, a proposal to begin debating either who the next ANC president should be, or who the ANC’s next candidate for the president of South Africa should be.”
But the league insisted on Thursday that it still did not see the point of having the debate while the leaders elected at the 2002 Stellenbosch conference were still around. The subtext is that Zuma should be elected as the next president of the ANC by virtue of his election as deputy president.
“If you remember even when Nelson Mandela was elected president in 1991, there were those who felt Thabo Mbeki was ready to be president,” commented league spokesperson Zizi Kodwa. “But ANC traditions were observed. Even if I may think I am brilliant and ready to be a leader today that cannot happen. When Zuma was first elected deputy president there were so many people who were qualified but he was chosen for a reason.”
“Gauteng comrades must say they are distancing themselves from the Stellenbosch decisions if it is their opinion. Otherwise their decision is premature and ahistorical. There can only be one leader at a time and all those businessmen and premiers must hold back their ambitions,” said Kodwa.