ANC ELECTIVE CONFERENCE
ANTHONY BUTLER: There’s more clarity from ANC conference now, but enigmas remain
Jacob Zuma probably has some final gambits to play, but they are all potentially counterproductive
A victory for ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa in December’s elective conference is probably now a little more likely than any other outcome. Some sources of uncertainty have diminished. ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe has put in place layers of oversight and appeal mechanisms to avert much-anticipated legal paralysis. So far, the courts have steered a prudent path, insisting that parties should (more or less) follow their own rules.
The prospect of the conference being postponed or collapsed has also diminished. Nasrec is a fortuitous venue for the management of a chaotic credentials process and for the containment of potential protests. As a former general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers, Mantashe is one of the country’s most experienced directors of violence-threatened elections. Once the conference gets under way, however, uncertainties multiply. The likely fate of the proposed amendments to the ANC constitution remains obscure. Preconference delibe...
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