The road to the December ANC Conference

With only a few weeks left to the December ANC Elective conference, so much is unfolding. The candidates as we know them are up in arms day in and day out working on campaigning to get enough votes to succeed current ANC President Jacob Zuma. The presidential hopefuls include three female candidates namely, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Lindiwe Sisulu and speaker of the national assembly Baleka Mbethe. The women are up against Deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa, Matthews Phosa, Zweli Mkhize.

In the past few days, Deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa made a move that some questioned when he announced his top 6 and his running mate Naledi Pandor. Many questioned his move while others focused on the placement of Naledi Pandor as saying Ramaphosa’s camp could have sat down with the Sisulu camp and made her his deputy simply because she has a huge following. As for Pandor some claim she has been quiet for long and even in critical times such as the cabinet reshuffle so some are not sure where exactly her fate lies. Some of the people Ramaphosa called out as his team, are Secretary General Gwede Mantashe as ANC chairperson, former Kwazulu Natal chairperson Senzo Mchunu as the secretary general, Paul Mashatile as preferred post of being treasurer general. The ANC has reacted to Ramaphosa’s move. Ramaphosa defended himself as saying, the names he mentioned for leadership positions arose from interactions and nominations emerging from ANC structures and should be understood in that context.

The party called on its leaders and members to desist from the practice of pronouncing on and circulating slates which may be seen to undermine their branches.

Dlamini-Zuma on the other hand, we have seen who sponsors her and I must say the whole nation was shocked. On the other hand we are not surprised, we know how far the politicians can get in getting what they want. They say one thing and do the other just to sum it up, the guys funding her camp are Adriano Mazzotti, who is a tobacco smuggler and gambling tycoon Philip Anastassopoulos. There we have it, out of so many legit people and companies that could fund mama Zuma, these two? Great maybe we should make her Minister of health again and she will have her conscious back.

So much is happening in our politics you know it’s heated, President Jacob Zuma was addressing a crowd that gathered in Kagiso during his Or Tambo centenary address. The president went on to tell the people about the ‘history of nuclear’ which I found funny because he spoke of communists and nuclear while Russians are communists and are in possession with nuclear weapons. His statement just did not make sense to me even his explanation with the relationship of Russia and South Africa. He criticised all those who are against the nuclear power deal. Zuma is on about this nuclear power thing despite finance minister Malusi Gigaba saying that the country does not need nuclear power and that we cannot afford it.