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Contenders in ruling ANC go for broke!
By Anthony Opara
The political situation in the rainbow nation of South Africa is hotting up and the battle is getting even fiercer and fiercer by the day.
This is coming on the heels of the ruling by a top court that parliament could initiate a ‘secret ballot’ no-confidence vote against embattled President, Jacob Zuma.
While President Jacob Zuma on the one hand is pulling all strings to ensure that he is able to finish his second term in office successfully, the duo of former African Union Chairperson, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and incumbent Deputy President, Cyril Ramaphosa are walking the roads in a frenetic bid to pick up the endorsement of the generality of ANC delegates that would be voting in the crucial Managung Conference that is scheduled to elect a new leadership for the ruling party in December.
On his part, Ramaphosa is banking on the support of his own sponsoring Congress of South African Trade Unions, COSATU, and a handful of alliance partners such as the South African Communist Party, SACP, and all embedded within the variegated coalition that the ANC essentially is.
at the other end of the spectrum, Dlamini-Zuma, a former wife of Jacob Zuma is banking heavily on the incumbency pull that her former husband yet commands and has already put at her disposal.
The big rub in the present tussle is that whoever wins the forthcoming contest would be the one to lead the ANC in the forthcoming polls to select Zuma’s successor in 2019. And with the opposition rivals – the Democratic Alliance, the Economic Freedom Fighters, the Congress of the People – yet to get into the big league, the same winner is already in pole position to be sworn in as the next president of South Africa!
Deputy President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa
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