JOHANNESBURG — South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, whose presidency has been rocked by claims he tried to cover up the theft of a huge sum of money from his farm, proved well placed to run for a second term as leader of the ruling African National Congress , and president of the country, after nominations from his party’s rank and file were released on Tuesday.
The ANC revealed that 3,543 branches across the country had submitted nominations for leadership positions that will be contested at a national party conference starting December 16 in Johannesburg.
At the meeting, held every five years, members elect the ANC’s top officials, including their president, and the president of the party is usually the country’s president. National elections are scheduled for 2024 and the ANC has won an outright majority of the vote in every national election since South Africa’s first democratic election in 1994.
Mr. Ramaphosa won nominations from 2,037 branches, more than double that of his nearest challenger, Zweli Mkhize. But analysts warned against making too much of the results because the game could change drastically by the time the conference gets underway.
Deputies, voting by secret ballot, are not required to abide by their departments’ nominations. Between the time the nominations are released and the time delegates head to the polls, a lot of haggling and haggling takes place, analysts said.
Among the names nominated for leadership of the ruling party, known as the “top six,” were several of Mr Ramaphosa’s allies, a reflection of his political strength and the continued role of factionalism and bitter infighting, analysts said.
The nominations also show that a party is falling short of its own so-called renewal agenda, said Hlengiwe Ndlovu, a senior lecturer at the University of Witwatersrand. Only two women have been nominated for a leadership position and they will be competing for the same spot. Younger leaders also struggled to get a grip.
“How do you innovate without putting women and young people at the center?” Dr. Ndlovu said.
Jacob Zuma, the former president who has attempted to re-enter the political scene after serving a 15-month prison sentence for failing to cooperate with a corruption investigation, has failed to secure enough nominations to run for ANC national president. He is still in legal jeopardy. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who was fighting to become the party’s first female president, also failed.
Still, the nominations are an early positive sign for Mr Ramaphosa, who has come under intense scrutiny since a former intelligence chief and political rival filed a police complaint alleging that $4 million to $8 million worth of US dollars were stolen in February 2020. currency was stored in furniture. stolen from Mr. Ramaphosa’s game farm, Phala Phala Wildlife.
Former spy chief Arthur Fraser made scandalous allegations, including that Mr Ramaphosa never reported the theft to police, instead relying on an off-the-books investigation by the head of the Presidential Protection Unit to investigate the theft . .
The president’s opponents within his own party have called for him to resign, accusing him of covering up the theft to protect himself from money laundering and tax fraud charges related to having so much foreign currency on his farm.
A parliament-appointed panel is expected to make a decision by the end of this month on whether Ramaphosa should face an impeachment inquiry. South Africa has never had a president face impeachment since its transition to democracy. The public prosecutor’s office and the public protector, an anti-corruption watchdog, have also launched their own investigation.
Mr Ramaphosa, who has denied any allegations, has argued that the investigation process should be completed.
At a recent meeting of ANC executives, he gave a few more details about the theft, saying that the amount stolen from the sale of the game was in fact around $500,000. According to South African news articles, he named the businessman he said bought the game from.
The president’s statement did little to quell the venom he faced, local news outlets reported, saying a leaked draft of a report from the ANC’s integrity committee suggested the scandal had discredited the party.
The tense battle for leadership within the ANC, Africa’s oldest liberation movement – and the criticism of Mr Ramaphosa for the theft – comes as the party faces a crossroads. Much of the country has had enough of the constant drumbeat of corruption allegations against party officials. Entrenched poverty and poor provision of services such as electricity and water have caused daily hardships for many. All this has led to the party’s electoral support plummeting.
In last year’s local government elections, the ANC failed to collect at least 50 percent of the national vote for the first time since the transition from apartheid to democratic rule. Many analysts predict that the party will fall below 50 percent in the next national election, forcing it to form a coalition with other parties to stay in power.
The leadership emerging from next month’s ANC conference “will be quite critical as a turning point in the ANC’s demise,” said Mmamoloko Kubayi, a member of the party’s executive committee and a supporter of Mr Ramaphosa. . “Society will see if the ANC is serious about turning around, if the ANC is serious about showing it has listened.”
For much of his four years in power, Mr Ramaphosa appeared to be heading for a second term. But the scandal, dubbed Farmgate by news outlets, may threaten that.
He rose to power as ANC leader in 2017 as an anti-corruption crusader and later replaced Mr Zuma, whose nine years in office were marred by numerous allegations that he had allowed those close to him to enrich themselves by robbing the state coffers.
In the aftermath of Mr Zuma’s tenure, Mr Ramaphosa championed a controversial ANC rule that required party officials to be suspended from their posts if they faced criminal charges in a court of law.
Now Mr. Ramaphosa could be facing the same rule.
Lynsey Chutel reporting contributed.