Whatever you call him — a rising star, a dark horse, a leader-in-waiting — ANC deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe arguably emerged as the most important and powerful victor in Polokwane this week.
‘Comrade Motlanthe, sabela uya-bizwa [you are being called to service],†sang delegates.
While Motlanthe was portrayed by both the Zuma and Mbeki camps as the indecisive link in the ANC infighting, he will go down as the saviour of Polokwane.
Motlanthe appeared to set himself up perfectly. He trounced Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma for the position of ANC deputy president and positioned himself for the top role.
If Jacob Zuma is charged with corruption, or if he serves only one term as the country’s president, Motlanthe has played a perfect move in the game of political chess.
At the start of the ANC conference this week Motlanthe came to the rescue of the party when it was beginning to degenerate into chaos, with many delegates refusing to accept the authority of former national chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota.
The delegates sang Umshini wami and disobeyed Lekota’s appeal to stop. The song was deliberately sung to irritate Lekota, who condemned it as irrelevant.
Motlanthe’s arrival at the microphone quietened the crowd. His calculated intervention emphasised Lekota’s emasculation in the party and his own growing stature.
When he finished presenting his organisational report, the crowd sang the song about Motlanthe, the unifier.
Since Thabo Mbeki fired Zuma as South Africa’s deputy president in 2005 the party has been split into two factions: those who support the president and those who believe Zuma was the victim of a conspiracy.
In an even-handed and politically street-smart report the former secretary general blamed the national executive committee for failing to provide direction for the ANC. He also blamed the Mbeki-Zuma power struggle for the divisions in the party.
Some analysts suggest that he glossed over sections that could be perceived as critical of Zuma.
His public caution was to his benefit. In an interview with the Mail & Guardian earlier this year he said he had served his one term as general secretary and had no reason to expect members to return him to office. In a typically standard ANC response he said he would consider his options if nominated.
‘Such speculation should be treated like coffee-house bubbles, not worthy of a response. I will cross that bridge when I come to it.â€
His supporters are less equivocal about his future. By nominating him as deputy president the Youth League and other members of the party are saying they expect him to become president of the ANC when Zuma’s term ends. This, the league insists, is in keeping with ANC tradition that the deputy president should succeed the incumbent.
But that view is contested by ANC intellectual Joel Netshitenzhe, who says there is no such tradition in the party.
Motlanthe will have to shake off his growing image as partisan to ANC president Zuma and show that he is the man to answer the party’s call for solid, unbiased leadership.