The Heat: ANC New Leadership

But now, Pillay says, “it’s really sad seeing what the ANC has become”. This could collapse the conference, the anxious leader, who did not want to be identified, said.

This is a matter to be presented to Plenary tomorrow morning for a decision.

They also warn that the power he holds as deputy president of the country remains constrained because Zuma still runs the country and dictates his deputy’s reach.

Much will depend on how many allies Mr Zuma can muster on the party’s 80-member national executive committee.

He was among a group of six young men standing on a street corner bathed in sunlight, drinking canned sodas the day after Ramaphosa’s decisive victory in the tight leadership race. Modise’s mother managed finances for the party during the Thabo Mbeki administration, just after Nelson Mandela stepped down.

His address revolved around unity saying the delegates had done something special by shunning the politics of slates when they voted for a mix leadership.

The voting processes started Sunday.

However, they had then been excluded from the final count because they were “illegally” at the conference. “Cyril is a multibillionaire and he got it from the very same people who oppressed us”, said Billy Tsotetsi, 62, a TV commentator.

The ANC has finished first in every national vote since the end of white-minority rule in 1994.

Magashule won 2 360 votes, while Mchunu received 2 336.

But Msingo and many others like him in Soweto are adamant that Ramaphosa’s election spells the end of Zuma’s controversial era.

North West ANC chairperson Supra Mahumapelo told News24’s Polotiki that the dispute risked damaging the image of the party.

We well understand that you will have to balance the need for societal change with the rough and tumble internal dynamics of the ANC, and in particular the need for real unity so that the movement can act with objective.

Jacob Zuma’s presidency, tainted by corruption and scandal, has badly tarnished the ANC’s image both at home and overseas.

If the top six remain unchanged, “there is a perfectly institutionalised conflict”, said political analyst and author of When Zuma Goes, Ralph Mathekga.

“We all wanted to make history of the first woman in 104 years [as ANC president]”, said Lindiwe Zulu, a female minister in Zuma’s government. His narrow win and his allies’ failure to secure three other top posts is likely to delay his ascendancy to the nation’s presidency and plans to revive a stuttering economy.

“Reaching out to Nkosazana Dlamini-Zumas was a masterpiece”, Seepe said.

Ramaphosa also said he would aim to expedite job creation, improve the lackluster economy and speed up the transfer of land to black people. In both South Africa and neighbouring Zimbabwe, which recently saw the ouster of longtime ruler Robert Mugabe, “there will be no more appeal to the liberation heritage of the two countries”, Professor Chan told The World Weekly.The South African rand increased in value against the USA dollar after Mr. Ramaphosa’s victory was announced and bank stocks proved to be the biggest winners in the Johannesburg stock exchange.

“We feel the ANC has failed the women of South Africa”, Dlamini said pointing out that non-sexism was one of the party’s values. “With Ramaphosa we are going to wait and see and maybe we are going to see something else from the ANC”.

He said the time for talk was over but there must be action.

The top six now consists of five men and one woman.

The previous top six has two women, Baleka Mbete as ANC chair and Jessie Duarte as deputy secretary general. There is no doubt about that. Ramaphosa, being the gentleman he is, will be torn between making some sort of magnanimous gesture towards her or burying her completely, though that may be easier said than done.

The great irony here is that Ramaphosa is richer than all of the thieves put together.