Opinion | A matter of context

In corporate South Africa, those qualities have earned him respect and influence. Having said so, the suggestion circulating within a section of the population that he should contest the ANC party presidency at next year’s elective conference reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of how power within the ANC is built and sustained. On this terrain, Motsepe would enter not as a front-runner but as a political novice.

It is true that Motsepe enjoys considerable goodwill within the party. For many members he embodies the success story of post-apartheid black economic empowerment. His philanthropic work and financial backing of various initiatives have further entrenched his standing as a figure who contributes to national development.

Such factors explain why some in society view him as a potentially unifying candidate for the ANC, someone who could bridge the widening gulf between business and politics. However, affection is not the same as political capital. If Motsepe is seriously considering entering the race, he would do well to reflect on the experience of Sandile Zungu, a prominent KwaZulu-Natal businessman who sought to lead the ANC in the province in 2022.

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Zungu’s credentials in the private sector were impeccable, and he entered the contest with visibility and resources. Yet when delegates gathered, they rejected him decisively. The humiliation was not personal, it was structural.

Delegates voted for candidates whose political histories were intertwined with their own, individuals who had shared organisational struggles, factional battles and branch-level loyalties. The lesson is clear: Within the ANC, legitimacy flows not from economic stature but from political embeddedness. This explains why even figures with deep historical ties to the movement have sometimes been treated with suspicion if they stepped away from active politics. President Cyril Ramaphosa offers a case in point.

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