Mangaung Update: Zuma Retains Presidency of the ANC, Ramaphosa is Deputy

by Chris on Dec 18th, 2012

$The ANC\'s Battle for Mangaung$ The votes have now been counted for the ANC’s top six party positions. Jacob Zuma was re-elected president by a considerable margin, with approximately 3000 votes, while Cyril Ramaphosa had the most votes for the position of deputy president.

The reaction on Twitter was swift and #ANC became a worldwide trending topic on the social media site. Here are a few of the Mangaung-related tweets:

#Mangaung President: Motlanthe – 991 Zuma 2982 votes. Jacob Zuma re-elected President of the ANC.

— Mandy Wiener (@MandyWiener) December 18, 2012

Cyril Ramaphosa’s is the biggest political comeback of our time. Will he be president by 2014?

— Max du Preez (@MaxduPreez) December 18, 2012

And Baleka Mbete is ANC chairperson; Thandi Modise trounced. #Mangaung. Now delegates boo Forces of Change campaign. Wound-licking tonight.

— Ferial Haffajee (@ferialhaffajee) December 18, 2012

Zuma and Ramaphosa win by over 75% majorities. Masters and commanders of the party. The dissidents can’t even hope for a split ala COPE.

— Justice Malala (@justicemalala) December 18, 2012

Ramaphosa higher vote count than Zuma. Watch your back Mr President, #Mangaung

— Ranjeni Munusamy (@RanjeniM) December 18, 2012

Congratulations to all the newly elected office bearers of the ANC!COSATU commits to work with them to drive change

— Zwelinzima Vavi (@Zwelinzima1) December 18, 2012

International media have been watching the proceedings at Mangaung with great interest and our own local papers have run stories about the conference for months. Here’s the Mail & Guardian’s report:

ANC president Jacob Zuma was re-elected to the presidency of the ruling party on Tuesday. Here’s a round-up of the top six leaders of the ANC’s national executive committee.

The results indicated that the members had voted strictly according to slates, with the Zuma slates averaging at 3 000 votes to Motlanthe’s 900 votes. The Motlanthe votes were split in the deputy president’s position, with Mathews Phosa receiving 470 votes to Tokyo Sexwale’s 470. Interestingly, Zuma received just under 3 000 votes – 2 978 – while his new deputy received just over 3 000, vindicating the Zuma lobby’s strategy to use Cyril Ramaphosa as a popular drawcard in an environment where Zuma is under pressure on several fronts