Questions have been raised about whether the emergence of Collen Malatji as the president of the ANC Youth Legue could be a sign that Fikile Mbalula’s supposed ambitions to become ANC president in 2027 are being reinforced.
Mbalula himself has not confirmed that he would like to lead the party after president Cyril Ramaphosa steps down.
However, talks in and outside the ANC indicate that he is eyeing this position. EFF leader Julius Malema also hinted to the media last week that Mbalula is mobilising his ascendancy to the ANC presidency behind the scenes.
On Tuesday morning Malatji who is seen as a close ally to the secretary general of the ANC was elected unopposed for ANCYL president.
The youth league has historically played a significant role in ANC succession battles.
The Citizen spoke to Ntsikelelo Breakfast a political analyst from the Nelson Mandela University (NMU) about this development.
He believes Malatji’s emergence is one point in the bag for Mbalula’s campaign.
“We cannot rule out that the emergence of the incumbent means Mbalula has the upper hand,” he said.
Breakfast said the youth league is not as influential as it was in the past. He said it was able to influence the mother body and become leaders of the National Democratic Revolution in its own right.
But, he said, this culture has changed and that the ANCYL now appears to be more tamed by the mother body.
“You can see even he (Malatjie) does not contradict Mbalula much in public,” he said.
What’s happening behind the scenes?
Breakfast said while the ANC has appealed for its members not to discuss succession before the 2027 elective conference, the discussion is taking place.
“It would be irresponsible not to discuss succession, these talks may not be happening in public but they are taking place in private,” he said.
So far, different reports suggest that Mbalula and the current deputy president of the party are both eyeing the same position. The Citizen understands they are both aligning their forces in preparation for the big battle at the 27th elective conference of the mother body.
Malatji speaks out of succession
The Citizen on Monday questioned Malatji about his view on a possible Mbalula presidential race.
“The issue of the succession debate of the ANC is not yet open. When that time comes, we will speak about it. We are a very influential body of the ANC and we send a delegation to the national conferences of the ANC,” Malatjie said.
“Now who will be forced to convene our own meeting to agree who we nominate and who we support, we cannot run away from it but do not rush it.”
Malatji said the ANCYL’s focus for now is winning back lost support to the ANC and ensuring that the party wins municipalities at the upcoming local government elections.
“Our focus now is to protect the ANC to win its hegemony, bring it back to power as the real parliament of the people and go and win the confidence of our people.
“We are the biggest contributors to the vote of the ANC, we must take the ANC from where it is, 40% is not a good position and this means the other 60% did not vote for the ANC, now that is a big problem,” he said.
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One member, one vote
Meanwhile at its national general council (NGC) last week the ANC announced that it would make recommendations to its 27th elective conference in 2027.
Part of these recommendations include ensuring that each member of the ANC votes for the president of the party instead of sending delegates to a national conference to represent their structures.
This model has introduced problems such as vote buying and the influence of the party by individuals with money.
The party admitted that the issue of vote buying is “anti-revolutionary” and that it goes against the principles of the National Democratic Revolution.
The other ANC bigwigs who are believed to also be looking at moving up the ranks at the party succession contest in 2027 include deputy secretary-general Nomvula Mokonyane. Talks in political circles are that she is eyeing the position of deputy president.
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