ANC succession: Leagues of influence
The ANC’s youth and women’s leagues have been key centres of power in the party’s leadership elections in the past. Who are they backing this time around and just how much clout do they have?
The ANC Youth League has a long history as “kingmakers” of its mother body, the ANC. In 1949, Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu were among the Youth League leaders who engineered the election of James Moroka as ANC president to succeed AB Xuma, whom they considered too passive. In 2007 the league — under Julius Malema, now head of the Economic Freedom Fighters — was instrumental in Jacob Zuma pushing out then-president Thabo Mbeki at Polokwane. But whether the Youth League still has such influence remains to be seen. The influential, pro-Zuma premier league (the premiers of Free State, North West and Mpumalanga), is apparently similarly divided. A “Youth League list” has surfaced, on which Free State ANC chairman Ace Magashule is at the helm of the party. Also on the list is Baleka Mbete, ANC chair and national assembly speaker. Mbete, however, also has her sights set on becoming ANC president. She told the Sunday Times this month that she had been “approached by many” party structur...
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