Emergent Mandela and another ANC leader
Dlamini-Zuma and Ramaphosa in an embrace
President Jacob Zuma of South Africa
A leadership recruitment earthquake is unraveling in South Africa where the Central Executive Committee of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) has endorsed Cyril Ramaphosa, the current Deputy President as its preferred successor to President Jacob Zuma as the leader of the African National Congress, (ANC). Hitherto, Mrs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the incumbent Chairperson of the African Union Commission, was expected to clinch the job preparatory to being elected president in 2019. That might have become a bit complicated by this intervention although the COSATU endorsement does not make Ramaphosa’s chances conclusive.
Although the ANC failed to predominate in the last municipal elections last August as was the case before, it is still believed to be the winning party in the 2019 elections when Jacub Zuma’s tenure expires.
The decision implying support and lobby for Ramaphosa to assume presidency of the ruling party is said to be a product of intense debate within the labour space.
Comrade Bheki Ntshalintshali, the General Secretary of the Congress said earlier today that its decision meant that it would campaign for the candidate to succeed Zuma at the December 2017 party conference.
Ramaphosa, a key player in the negotiation of South Africa’s independence, however, found himself in business rather than being central to the subsequent political processes. Today, some people are not sure if he is not more pro-big business than pro-labour, his original constitutency, being the founder and pioneer General Secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers
