The dust is slowly settling at Nasrec, south of Johannesburg, after the ANC’s brutal 55th National Elective Conference.
Cyril Ramaphosa has been re-elected to serve a second term as ANC president, with Paul Mashatile serving as his deputy.
Read about the election of the ANC’s top seven leadership here.
You can also follow IOL’s blow-by-blow accounts of what happened on each day of the conference so far: Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.
IOL will keep you updated on this, the final day of the conference.
Mbalula sets ominous tone for ANC members
Newly elected ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula’s warning to party members against defying party instructions has been described as draconian by delegates attending the national elective conference.
On Monday, the party announced that president Cyril Ramaphosa had been re-elected to lead the party until 2027 with former treasurer-general Paul Mashatile elected as deputy president, Gwede Mantashe retained the chairperson position, Mbalula is secretary-general, Nomvula Mokonyane first deputy secretary-general, Maropene Ramokgopa second deputy secretary-general and Gwen Ramokgopa elected treasurer-general.
Read the full story here
WATCH: ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa says party emerged united after 55th elective conference
ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa says the party has emerged united after its five-day conference in Nasrec, Joburg, with delegates rallying behind the party.
Ramaphosa, who closed the conference on Tuesday, said the ANC had been on a path of renewal and the more than 4 200 delegates had backed the project of renewal.
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Mdumiseni Ntuli not gunning for Pule Mabe's position
ANC KwaZulu-Natal secretary general Mdumiseni Ntuli has denied having campaigned for the position of ANC spokesperson on social media.
Ntuli who lost out to Fikile Mbalula for the position of ANC secretary general, said he had seen reports indicating that he had been campaigning for the position of spokesperson on social media.
Read the full story here
WATCH THE LIVE FEED HERE
UPDATE: ANC's secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula's press conference is now over. The various commissions are shortly expected to take the podium and address the media as well.
UPDATE: SG Fikile Mbalula says he is the custodian of ANC guidelines, and discipline and is here to enforce them. He laments that in the era of modern technology, the ANC should not be struggling with simple issues like registrations. He vows that such issues would be a thing of the past under him as the secretary-general.
UPDATE: Mokonyane is now answering questions on poor attendance at some commissions. She admits that some of the commissions were poorly attended. However, that was compensated by the fact that provinces made input. However, Mbalula says the reports of poor attendance are fabrications, saying their commissions were well attended.
UPDATE: Newly elected ANC 1st deputy secretary-general, Nomvula Mokonyane, is taking some of the questions at the ongoing press conference. She says some of their delegates had to rush home since they have to be at work on Wednesday. She adds that the last-minute vetting of delegates who were nominated from the floor also resulted in delaying the conference which will now be concluded on January 5, 2023.
UPDATE: Fikile Mbalula says the commissions sat and the conference resolutions will be announced on January 5, 2023. He clarifies that the decision to adjourn the conference was because they did not want to rush in reaching conclusions.
UPDATE: Newly elected ANC secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula, is once again addressing the media. He says the new NEC members will be announced on Tuesday.
Delay-plagued ANC’s 55th Elective Conference postponed to January next year
After experiencing several setbacks and delays, the ANC’s national elective conference will now only be concluded on January 5 next year during a hybrid sitting.
The surprise move was announced by newly elected secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula on Tuesday, the last day of the conference which took place at the Nasrec expo centre in Johannesburg which dragged on for five days.
Read the full story here
WATCH: ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa Closes ANC's 55th Elective Conference
Video: Timothy Bernard/African News Agency (ANA)
UPDATE: Despite that the ANC's national conference will now be concluded on January 5, 2023, voting for the new NEC members is proceeding as planned and those elected will be announced later today. Meanwhile, President Cyril Ramaphosa has just finished his closing speech. @IOL
— Sihle Mavuso (@ZANewsFlash) December 20, 2022
UPDATE: Ramaphosa says they are emerging stronger as the ANC. He says unity and renewal are their duties. He says the conference has reaffirmed that the ANC must be united.
UPDATE: Ramaphosa says they need to fix schools, hospitals, roads, and infrastructure. He says they need to employ people because they are competent and not connected to other people. He says they need to end patronage. He says they need to show no mercy to those who steal money from the poor, whoever they are. He says this was the definitive mandate of the conference.
UPDATE: Ramaphosa says his task is to unite the ANC. He says since 2017 they have faced a difficult journey to unite the ANC and in some instances faced resistance
UPDATE: Ramaphosa says they either deal with the problem of corruption or they perish as the ANC.
UPDATE: Ramaphosa says they also agreed at the conference to fight the scourge of gender-based violence. The conference also agreed to build more universities in SA. Ramaphosa says they must welcome the fact that three of the top Top 7 leaders are women. He says he is not happy that not many women attended the conference. There must be equal representation across all the structures of the ANC. He says corruption is a dire threat to the existence of the ANC. They acknowledge they have not done enough to deal with state capture and corruption.
UPDATE: Ramaphosa says the conference agreed to accelerate the delivery of quality services to the people. They are also committed to the land reform programme. He says the conference had discussions on the safety and security of the people and they have taken steps to strengthen the police and law enforcement agencies to fight crime. They will also harmonies immigration laws.
UPDATE: Ramaphosa says the conference has given its deployees in Parliament and the government instructions to urgently implement policies that have been adopted in commissions. These policies will be confirmed when the conference reconvenes on January 5.
UPDATE: Ramaphosa says the ANC has made mistakes and paid for them. He says there is no other reason for the existence of the ANC than to unite and serve the people of SA. He says there is no other reason for them to be elected into positions than to serve the people of SA. He says they have taken steps to build the economy. They have agreed on a combination of measures to grow the economy, and that includes incentives and tax rebates to speed up infrastructure upgrades in the country.
UPDATE: Ramaphosa says the branches have spoken on who wants to lead the ANC. He says once the branches have spoken, everyone is expected to fall into line.
UPDATE: Ramaphosa says this has been a watershed conference. He says they will continue on the path of renewal. He says there have been attempts to provoke and divide them to divert the attention of the conference. He says despite the differences they had this did not distract them.
UPDATE: Ramaphosa says that the steering has been approved and the conference has approved that the conference be adjourned until January 5. He says when the conference reconvenes on January 5 it will be followed by January 8 statement in Mangaung.
UPDATE: President Cyril Ramaphosa is starting to address the conference in his closing remarks after five days of meeting in Nasrec, south of Johannesburg.
UPDATE: Secretary-General, Fikile Mbalula explains that the conference experienced several delays like during registration. He adds that by Tuesday, some delegates from far-flung provinces had already left and some reports could not be adopted as they require a certain percentage of votes. He proposes that the conference is postponed to January 5, 2023 and it will be in a hybrid format.
UPDATE: The ANC's national elective conference has been adjourned. The conference will now resume in January next year. Newly elected secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula is now on the podium to give way forward.
IEC laments ‘malicious’ Twitter campaign
The Electoral Commission (IEC) said it noted with concern, malicious content being shared on Twitter and other social media platforms regarding its purported involvement in the recent ANC 55th elective conference.
It said the content was designed to tarnish the IEC’s reputation and integrity.
Read the full story here
Mabuyane downplays ANC Eastern Cape and Gauteng tensions, but firm on semi-migration row
Eastern Cape ANC chairperson Oscar Mabuyane has downplayed tensions between the Eastern Cape and their Gauteng comrades.
However, Mabuyane was firm in criticising comments by his Gauteng counterpart, Premier Panyaza Lesufi, relating to a lopsided provincial semi-migration.
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Newly-elected ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula’s stern warning to those who refuse to toe the line
Self-proclaimed ‘Commander of Discipline in the ANC’, newly-elected secretary-general Fikile Mbalula asserted his authority, and by extension, the authority of President Cyril Ramaphosa on those party members who did not toe the party line.
Read the full story here.
ANC leadership battle is over, now we must build a better life for all
As the dust settles on the ANC National Elective Conference, attention must now rapidly turn to fixing the raft of challenges facing South Africa.
While the leadership battle for the ANC was often bruising, it did represent democracy in its truest sense, writes Dr Iqbal Surve.
How Cyril secured last-minute victory
Last-minute horse trading during the ANC elective conference, which ends on Wednesday, saw Gauteng and Limpopo change their plans, which apparently sent presidential hopeful Zweli Mkhize’s campaign up in smoke, paving the way for the re-election of Cyril Ramaphosa as ANC president.
Read the full story here.
UPDATE: Ramokgopa says she is embarrassed when she is told she is the first woman to occupy the position of Treasurer-General in 110 year history of the ANC. She says it is also historic there are three women in the Top 7. She says women need to be recognised for their contribution to the struggle and history of the ANC.
UPDATE: Ramokgopa says no one must be left behind in inclusive growth to jack up the economy.
She says they need to build social moral fibre. If you look at Asian Tigers they have zero tolerance on corruption. She says the country must not tolerate wrongdoing otherwise they will be tolerating those who do wrong things. She says if there is bribery it involves two people, the one who gives the bribe and the one who takes the bribe. Ramokgopa says this is one of the biggest conferences they ever had and it was heartening that more young people are not losing hope in the ANC. She also salutes women including Charlotte Maxeke, who comes from her village of Bothlokwa, who was the first black woman to get a BSc degree. She rallied women to join the ANC.
UPDATE: Gwen Ramokgopa says there is glimmer of hope from work done in the last five years. If you look at the performance of the economy shows that. She says the size of economy exceeds pre-pandemic levels, inflation has stabilised to 7.4% and they are attending to businesses still in distress.
She says Stats SA reported that in 2022 47% of women were economically active and this is far higher than 36% of their male counterparts. She says they are aware that the youth make up most of the unemployment rate and they will put their heads together to see they can address the problem of youth unemployment.
UPDATE: Newly-elected ANC treasurer-general Gwen Ramokgopa says they need to stabilise the finances. She says they will extend the modernisation programme of the ANC to the provinces. She says they also welcome the stability of the rand after the conference's election of the new leaders. She says we must also grow our economy and everyone must feel that this democracy works for them in improving their quality of life.
UPDATE: Newly elected ANC Treasurer-General Dr Gwen Ramokgopa will on Tuesday address the Progressive Business Forum a day after she got elected into the position.
The ANC has over the last few months been facing serious financial challenges. Ramokgopa's predecessor Paul Mashatile, who was elected Deputy President on Monday, had highlighted some of the financial challenges of the party and had called for amendments to the Political Party Funding Act, which would lead to the raising of the threshold for donations that should be made public.
The ANC is also facing a tough election in 2024 and this would require funds to campaign. Ramokgopa, who had previously served as Health MEC in Gauteng, had been working in the ANC Secretary-General's as co-ordinator office over the last few months, will be addressing the PBF with another ANC leader Khumbudzo Ntshaveni, who is also the Minister of Communications.
My job is to guard the ANC says Fikile Mbalula as he is elected secretary-general
Newly-elected ANC secretary-general (SG) Fikile Mbalula has vowed to deal with any dissent that arises in the party going forward.
Read the full story here.
Free State gives the ANC another Secretary-General
Newly-elected ANC secretary-general, and outgoing Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula has emphasised that the Free State is also represented in the top echelons of the ANC.
Read the full story here.