South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress ( ANC) in a tight race voted for a new leader. The casting of ballots took place at the National Recreation and conference centre near Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest industrial city.
More than 4,000 delegates participated in the vote in order to appoint seven top leadership roles, namely party president, deputy president, chair and secretary general.
The said tight race is between President Cyril Ramaphosa who has just recently survived an impeachment vote and his former health minister Zweli Mkhize.
President Ramaphosa is expected to take the lead and that would open a doorway to his being head of state for a second term.
He first emerged as the ANC leader in a tightly fought 2017 race after his then boss Jacob Zuma became got bogged in corruption allegations.
However, according to the current reports of party delegates from various provinces shifting support to Mkhize.
It should be recalled that Ramaphosa replaced health minister Zweli Mkhize at the peak of the pandemic for alleged unlawful conduct involving Covid funds.
This means both contestants have been accused of corruption scandals however both claim those are just allegations.
According to Pule Mabe, the ruling party’s (ANC) spokesperson said that the party would find out more about reports of vote buying by some delegates involved in last-minute horse trading once they were formally reported to the ANC.
“We have to take action against individuals who do such,” Mabe said.
