Renowned South African political commentator and columnist Justice Malala on Tuesday asserted that African National Congress (ANC) treasurer general Paul Mashatile would definitely become the party’s deputy president and added that he could also be elevated to the presidency of the ANC.

Malala was speaking during a PSG webinar where he said that if President Cyril Ramaphosa and former Health Minister Zweli Mkhize (who is also in the running for party president) have to step aside for the Phala Phala and Digital Vibes sagas, respectively, two of the top runners will be out of play.

He predicted that Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who has been linked to the Jacob Zuma faction, would not ascend to the presidency.

The ANC will hold its fifty-fifth elective conference in December, where Ramaphosa is due to again come up against Dlamini-Zuma, after he defeated her in 2017.

Malala explained that Ramaphosa’s second-term bid had been endorsed by Limpopo, the Eastern Cape, North West and Mpumalanga. Gauteng and the Northern Cape are also expected to rally behind him.

He reiterated that while Dlamini-Zuma vies for the ANC presidency, she won’t make it as recent events have marked the end of former President Zuma in the party.

“I think the ANC delegates have rejected the influence of Jacob Zuma in the ANC and the attempt by him to influence who gets chosen as the ANC leader,” Malala explained.

He said Mashatile had been very interesting in policy terms, particularly around his pronouncements on land.

Mashatile revealed that the ANC may have to scrap its plans to change the Constitution to make it easier for the government to seize land without paying for it and address racially skewed ownership patterns.

He also highlighted that Mashatile had always been interesting in as far as business-friendliness was concerned.

Malala noted that Mashatile would not be a bad choice to lead the ANC, explaining that Mashatile could attract the popular vote in 2024 to mitigate against the party’s bad press.

COALITION GOVERNMENTS

He said recent developments in the country’s political arena were “heart-breaking for voters”, referring to coalition governments in Nelson Mandela Bay and in the City of Johannesburg.

“A lot of people would have chosen an alternative to the ANC, voted for it and said ‘Well, even if I voted DA and they work with ActionSA and the IFP at least these guys can form something’. The collapse, and high profile collapse, we have seen in the City of Johannesburg leads to a certain disgruntlement with the political establishment so people will be asking themselves why should I be voting for a small party, what is the point because they going to collapse at coalition,” he said.

He noted that while coalition governments had worked in some parts of the world, he believed that some had been very damaging in recent times.

He suggested that the City of Johannesburg prepare for a coalition government again in the 2024 election, and added that the ANC would have to rethink how it worked with the EFF, IFP, and others in a coalition.

PROGRESS DURING RAMAPHOSA’S PRESIDENCY

Meanwhile, Malala said he has not seen the kind of speed and resoluteness needed to achieve the results which Ramaphosa set out to achieve when he became President.

He highlighted that the country’s problems were massive, specifically referring to “catastrophic youth unemployment” in an economy that had hundreds of thousands of youth coming into the system every year and that was only growing at 1%.

He said government was adding to tensions that could lead to actions such as the 2021 July unrest.

Malala said he disagreed with former President Kgalema Motlanthe who said the ANC had heard the alarm bells ringing for change in the party.

Malala explained that he was not convinced that the ANC was talking renewal and leadership changes, saying the party’s momentum unfortunately included usage of State resources for its own enrichment and the enrichment and empowerment of its leaders.