Reports that Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has entered the African National Congress (ANC) succession debate are devoid of truth, her spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said on Friday.
”The suggestion that Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has now entered the current succession debate as reported in the media today is both erroneous and misleading,” Mamoepa said in statement.
The incorrect impression followed an interview she had with radio station Kaya FM on Thursday, where she responded to ”generic” questions about the leadership role of women in general.
”Accordingly, Minister Dlamini-Zuma has not entered into the current fray about succession within the ANC, as suggested by the media articles today,” Mamoepa said.
According to reports earlier on Friday, when asked if she would be available for the ANC’s top post, she told Kaya FM: ”ANC cadres never refuse when they are deployed. An ANC cadre has a responsibility to respond to what the ANC thinks they should do.”
The ANC will choose a new leader at a party congress in Polokwane next month. President Thabo Mbeki and his rival Jacob Zuma, Dlamini-Zuma’s ex-husband, are seen as the leading contenders in the contest.