Eastern Cape ANC chairperson Oscar Mabuyane has voiced an appetite for a female president in the ANC. Though he would not say it outright, Mabuyane referred to four regions in his province being led by women. This follows a report by the Sunday Times that indicated ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa was eyeing National Assembly speaker Thoko Didiza as his successor.
[A female ANC president is inevitable: MabuyaneOpens in new window] The ANC is discussing an investment and export-diversification plan that aims to lift South African exports to R3-trillion at its mid-term national general council as the government seeks to shore up the economy in response to recent punitive tariffs imposed by the US. The investment plan is central to the ANC’s move to insulate the country’s economy from the fallout of US-imposed tariffs, particularly on steel, vehicle components and other industrial goods. [The R3-trillion strategy against US trade barriersOpens in new window] In adopting the 1996 constitution at its 50th conference in Mahikeng, the ANC entered a terrain of struggle it might have missed entirely.
It could be overlooking an opportunity to frame it as a strategic pillar of its National Democratic Revolution (NDR), as represented by the wheel on its emblem. It is questionable if the ANC was prepared for the constitutional democracy, which it won elections to preside over in 1994. Evidence in rhetoric, political behaviour, its relationship with the rule of law, the persistent stance that ANCness is the highest authority over the law and the growing pains of a prospective federalist multiparty democracy all demonstrate an unreadiness.
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[LUCKY MATHEBULA | Beyond the internal squabbles and rented ideas of the NGC, there is us votersOpens in new window] The ANC in Gauteng will investigate allegations of vote buying at the Johannesburg regional conference, which saw Loyiso Masuku defeating Dada Morero as chairperson. Speaking to the Sunday Times on the sidelines of the ANC’s national general council (NGC), Gauteng provincial task team convener Amos Masondo said the party was aware of allegations surrounding the regional conference.
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