Road To Mangaung

Provincial support has been garnered as part of a key strategy to win votes at the crucial conference.

Security at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, where the ANC is holding its national conference, has been beefed-up.

Various anti-Zuma factions have launched bids to declare the provincial processes invalid, writes Mmanaledi Mataboge.

Some in the ANC have inflated room prices in the Free State for the Mangaung conference, but the leadership has rented school and university hostels.

A frosty contest is expected at Mangaung as the "cold war" between Jacob Zuma and Kgalema Motlanthe escalates.

Zuma can save the ANC by not accepting nomination for the presidency at Mangaung, says Paul Khitsane.

The run-up to Mangaung has seen vicious infighting, organisational chaos and accusations of fraud and manipulation at ANC branch level.

Branch paradox is central to the ANC — and its 53rd national conference in Mangaung in less than 10 days’ time.

On speculation that he would be nominated as president or deputy, Motlanthe has said such talk was ‘coffee-house bubbles not worthy of response’.

ANC supporters of Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe believe Zuma’s supporters are planning a purge during the ANC’s national conference next week.

The ANC in the Western Cape missed the November 30 deadline for nominating its preferred candidate for the party’s Mangaung elective conference.

Tiisetso Makube takes a ride to find some answers about the succession race but instead finds more questions about the troubled state of the nation.

Former police commissioner Bheki Cele’s popularity could prove divisive if he carries an anti-Zuma mandate, writes Niren Tolsi.

The smart money is still on ANC president Jacob Zuma being re-elected at the Mangaung conference next month, writes Matuma Letsoalo.

Zuma plans his reign after Mangaung, while opposition parties table a motion of no confidence in the president in Parliament.