Jacob Zuma’s blitzkrieg for control of the ANC was triumphantly concluded this week with the election of the new national working committee (NWC), the party’s 28-member inner leadership core.
The NWC, charged with the day-to-day running of the ANC, will spearhead the next stage in Zuma’s campaign — the attritional warfare for control of government that will likely be more reminiscent of Stalingrad.
As expected, the NWC election saw the demise of all Thabo Mbeki’s intimates, who have dominated the structure for close to a decade. Casualties include key strategy adviser Joel Netshitenzhe and seven Mbeki-aligned Cabinet ministers: Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Thoko Didiza, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Brigitte Mabandla, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, Sidney Mufamadi and Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.
The radical shake-out deepens the gulf between the party and government. Surviving or newly included national ministers have relatively lowly portfolios: Jeff Radebe (transport), Makhenkesi Stofile (sport), Lindiwe Sisulu (housing) and Pallo Jordan (arts).
The Zuma dynamic largely explains the controversial inclusion of convicted fraudster and drunk-driving accused Tony Yengeni, a key Zuma point man in the Western Cape, and Travelgate delinquent Bathabile Dlamini, prime deliverer of the women’s league vote.
But the list also contains non-aligned figures, apparently favoured for their gravitas and government or business experience — notably Jordan, businessman Max Sisulu and deputy minister Susan Shabangu — and little-known provincial ministers of good record.
This NWC is more clearly left-leaning than its predecessor. But the only socialist firebrand is senior communist Blade Nzimande; other leftists, such as Mpumalanga minister Dina Pule and MP Nathi Mthethwa, are considered pragmatic.
Although the NWC is formally elected by the national executive committee (NEC), the process is heavily stage-managed. Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, top of the NEC list, did not make the cut, while the lowest-polling NEC member, Limpopo minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, is included.
The new NWC members — who additionally comprise the ANC’s top six officials — are:
Collins Chabane
Limpopo’s highly regarded economic development MEC is seen as a strong contender for the Limpopo premiership. A modest, accessible man, he has clashed repeatedly with Premier Sello Moloto on policy, but is credited with driving regional economic growth to 6,5%. A trained aircraft technician and former university chancellor, Chabane trained himself as a jazz musician while imprisoned on Robben Island.
Dina Pule
Mpumalanga’s first NWC member, Pule is a grass-roots activist and former government spin-doctor. She joined the provincial cabinet as agriculture MEC two years ago as part of a team of ‘young Kennedys†who pledged to sweep away the rot of previous administrations. A left-leaning activist, she has been fearless in her criticism of mismanagement and corruption.
Maite Nkoana-Mashabane
Limpopo’s local government and housing MEC won a wide following in the province for her efforts to root out corruption in low-cost housing programmes and her hands-on approach to rural housing. A one-time United Democratic Front activist and High Commissioner to India and Malaysia, she is the widow of former ambassador Norman Mashabane, who was convicted of sexual harassment.
Nathi Mthethwa
Tough-minded and physically imposing, this KwaZulu-Natal-based MP (51) is a rising star in the National Assembly, where his chairmanship of the minerals and energy committee commands respect. He was not publicly associated with the Zuma campaign.
Susan Shabangu
Invisible as deputy safety and security minister, Shabangu (51) came in 36th in the NEC poll. Her labour background — she was women’s coordinator of Cosatu’s transport affiliate — undoubtedly assisted her. An MP since 1994, Shabangu has been on the fringes of Cabinet since 1996, when she was appointed deputy minerals minister.
Tony Yengeni
The ANC’s romance with its disgraced former parliamentary chief whip partly derives from his struggle history, which he assiduously converted into a support base in the Cape. Western Cape Umkhonto we Sizwe head, he was tortured and jailed for terrorism in 1987. Yengeni (53) is a key member of the provincial party’s ‘Africanist†faction, bitterly opposed to Premier Ebrahim Rasool, and there is broad party sympathy for him as an alleged victim of Mbeki. A key Zuma backer.
Bathabile Dlamini
Another beneficiary of the iron principle that trouble with the law and a bad press bolster grass-roots popularity, Dlamini was convicted of defrauding Parliament of R254 000 in the Travelgate affair. Secretary general of the ANC Women’s League since 1997, she was central to swinging the league behind Zuma.
Siphiwe Nyanda
A former MK commander, Nyanda (57) has a strong exile connection with Zuma. Stepping down as South Africa’s first black defence force chief in 2005, he entered business and emerged as a key Zuma campaigner, notably among MK veterans. He is chief executive of controversial arms company Ngwane Defence.
Makhenkesi Stofile
At 63 Stofile is a member of the ANC’s older generation. Removed as Eastern Cape premier in 2004 and handed the sop of the sports ministry, he featured on both the Zuma and Cosatu NEC list. A former UDF leader, Border rugby player and ordained Presbyterian minister, he is a key power broker in the Eastern Cape.
Pallo Jordan
Also of Mbeki’s generation, Jordan (65) joined the ANC in 1960 and rose to prominence in exile in its publicity and information department. Respected for his independence of mind — he publicly espoused a ‘third way†before Polokwane — he was sacked as telecommunications minister by Nelson Mandela, allegedly on Mbeki’s urging, and omitted from Mbeki’s first Cabinet. An MP since 1994 and NEC member since 1991, he was fourth in the Polokwane NEC poll.
Angie Motshekga
Gauteng education minister and wife of failed Gauteng premier Mathole, Motshekga (53) openly campaigned for Zuma. A highly qualified former Wits University lecturer, she surprisingly failed to win the Gauteng ANC leadership this year. She has been embroiled in controversy over a provincial pension contract that benefited her family trust.
Ncumisa Kondlo
The deputy South African Communist Party chairperson in the Eastern Cape, Kondlo is a Rhodes University-trained educationist, former teacher and unionist who cut her political teeth in the UDF. Quietly influential in Parliament, where she is deputy chair of the public enterprises committee, she is seen as a pragmatic leftist who brings policy capacity to the NWC.
Max Sisulu
ANC economic policy chief and scion of the ANC aristocracy, Sisulu is the only NWC member with serious business nous. A former Denel chief executive, he is Sasol’s group general manager and chairs Ukhamba Holdings. A Harvard-trained economist who leads the ANC’s economic transformation committee and worked on the RDP, he imports much-needed technical expertise.
Jeff Radebe
While public enterprises minister and privatiser in chief, Radebe was dumped by the SACP, but his relegation to transport apparently soured his relationship with Mbeki. Pre-Polokwane he was linked to Tokyo Sexwale’s leadership bid, but might have switched quietly to Zuma. A jailed former freedom fighter influential in the southern KwaZulu-Natal ANC, he was second in the NEC poll.
Jessie Duarte
Special assistant to Mandela in 1990, Duarte (54) resigned as Gauteng safety and security MEC in 1998 under a cloud. She has been rehabilitated, first as High Commissioner to Mozambique, then as a senior foreign affairs official overseeing African affairs. An NEC member since 1997, she was sixth in the latest NEC election.
Lindiwe Sisulu
Sisulu’s bond with Zuma began in exile, where she worked in MK intelligence. Later she was personal assistant to him as ANC intelligence head. Walter Sisulu’s daughter and an ANC veteran despite her age — 53 — she was detained and tortured in 1975 before skipping the country. Educated in Swaziland and at York University, she is respected for her acuity and as a minister.
Tina Joemat-Pettersson
A former University of the Free State lecturer, Joemat-Pettersson has been a Northern Cape MEC since 1994 and now serves in the agriculture and land reform portfolio. She is associated with the anti-Mbeki, pro-John Block ANC faction centred in Upington.
Blade Nzimande
A PhD from the University of Natal and SACP general secretary since 1998, Nzimande (49) is the only clear hard-left representative on the NWC. With Cosatu’s Zwelinzima Vavi he was Mbeki’s implacable foe and central to harnessing the left to Zuma’s campaign. He has been accused of encouraging a personality cult and Stalinist tendencies by elements of his party.
Fikile Mbalula
The self-described ‘chief campaigner lobbyist†of the ANC Youth League has been pivotal in swinging the youth behind Zuma and heading off dissent, notably in the Eastern Cape. Bombastic, often incoherent and sometimes threatening, Mbalula (36) speaks for the most volatile and politically immature component of Zuma’s support base.
Nomaindia Mfeketo
The Gugulethu-based activist and former Cape Town mayor whose incompetence handed the city to the Democratic Alliance remains a core member of the Yengeni-Mcebisi Skwatsha grouping in the Western Cape and central to its plans to seize provincial government power. Being touted now as the next Western Cape premier.
*Additional reporting by Justin Arenstein of African Eye News.