Key strategists for African National Congress (ANC) presidential frontrunner Jacob Zuma are working to increase his majority at the Polokwane national conference and have vowed not to allow complacency to creep in.
They have also blasted President Thabo Mbeki for intentionally dividing the ANC further by continuing to contest the election when it is evident that the majority of party members do not want him to return as president.
ANC Youth League president Fikile Mbalula told the Mail & Guardian that although he was convinced Zuma would be elected president of the ANC in Limpopo next month, the league would not sit back and relax.
“Of course we are happy with what we have achieved now, but this should not make us arrogant and believe it is over.”
Mbalula said he was not surprised by the outcome of the nominations in provinces such as Limpopo, North West, Western Cape and the Eastern Cape, which supported Mbeki.
He said he was satisfied with what the Zuma camp has achieved in the Eastern Cape.
“We knew that was going to be a difficult province for us, but our members on the ground worked very hard. Our target was to get 300 votes and we managed to achieve that. For the next remaining weeks, we will work hard to increase the target to 400.”
Zuma received 322 votes to Mbeki’s 520 in a province where the Mbeki lobbyists had predicted he (Mbeki) would win 90% of the votes.
The league, said Mbalula, will double its efforts to increase the numbers of Zuma’s support bases in other provinces, particularly Limpopo, North West and the Western Cape, which are regarded as Mbeki’s strongholds.
It will be almost impossible for the Mbeki group to convince ANC members who supported Zuma during the nomination process. “We know they are going to target Gauteng, but they don’t have any chance,” the youth league president said.
The secret behind Zuma’s campaign is that he is more accessible to ordinary ANC members, Mbalula said. The Zuma camp gained more advantage over the Mbekites during the lobbying process because the league leadership monitored all their opponents’ moves.
“We knew all their moves, where they met on a daily basis, their strategies and tactics. In fact some of the people whom they thought were in their camp, were actually our own people. We know all the people who support Mbeki and those who support Zuma. This, for us, made things easier in terms of lobbying,” said Mbalula.
He challenged Mbeki to show statesmanship by listening to the message relayed by the nomination process last week.
Mbeki said this week that he will not pull out of the race.
Mbalula said Mbeki did not have any reason to oppose Zuma becoming the ANC’s next president.
“We would have expected the president to play a role that unifies rather than him being at the centre of the contest. We always thought there was a general understanding in the movement that the president must rise above all of us.
“He can’t impose himself as the leader of the ANC. It should rather be the members of the ANC who call for him to stand again. It is clear members have had enough of him and now want Zuma to lead the party,” said Mbalula.
He said Mbeki has done what was required of him during his period as ANC leader, but now it is time for change.
“People say he has brains and experience, but we believe no leader is indispensable in the ANC. We have produced giants in this movement. This is the ANC of Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu. Mbeki and Zuma are not the first leaders and will not be the last. That is the point we must understand. If we inculcate the mentality that they [Zuma and Mbeki] are the alpha and omega, we are killing the organisation and misleading society,” said Mbalula.
The Zuma lobby believes that whatever the outcome of the leadership contest, ANC members have shown that a new ANC will emerge from the conference, which will not be subject to the whims of its leaders.
The newly elected national executive committee of the ANC is expected to work out a protocol that will govern the relationship between the ANC and the state. The NEC is expected to be vastly different from the current one, which is widely seen as subservient to Mbeki because it fails to challenge some of his controversial stances.
If, as expected, the NEC comprises people hostile to Mbeki, the plan is to rely on the protocol to prevent a turbulent 18 months while Mbeki is still president of the country.
ANC leaders are confident that if the positions adopted at the policy conference in June are confirmed by the national conference, there will be a blueprint of progressive policies by which the president will have to abide.
They are also sure that whatever the outcome of the ANC leadership elections, the powers of the president will be subject to necessary checks and balances.