Three people battling for the ANC’s top job

With the ANC’s next electoral conference in December 2027, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s will come to an end and a new leader of the party will be elected.

Rumours have already begun to circulate as to who will be taking on the ANC presidency. 

Addressing speculation that Ramaphosa may resign before the elective conference, the ANC’s spokesperson, Mahlengi Bhengu, denied this.

“We’ve been scanning the media environment, and we actually are baffled at the idea that the president may resign anytime soon. The president is serving the country excellently.”

Bhengu was speaking in an interview with Newzroom Afrika. This was echoed in a recent speech by Secretary General Fikile Mbalula. 

Addressing councillors in Mpumalanga recently, Mbalula went as far as to say there is “nothing stopping Ramaphosa from running for a third term.”

Nevertheless, political analyst Prince Mashele has pointed to a pattern within the ANC, in which presidents appear to be weakest in their second term and are then replaced by an anti-incumbent opposition within the party. 

It was widely speculated that now-suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu was Ramaphosa’s pick for his succession.

Mchunu’s candidacy has been hampered, however, by his alleged involvement in corruption and political interference in the criminal justice system.

Patrice Motsepe, a businessman and South Africa’s first black dollar-billionaire, was also suspected of being in the running for the job, being a known ANC supporter and a political party funder.

Addressing these rumours recently at an address during the South African National Editors Forum Fundraising Dinner, Motsepe said he has no intention of entering politics.

Yet, three known candidates have hinted at their intention for the ANC presidency: Deputy President Paul Mashatile, Secretary General Fikile Mbalula and First Deputy Secretary Nomvula Makonyane.

Paul Mashatile 

Paul Mashatile, as Deputy President, stands in a strong position to take on the Presidency. The ANC has a long-running pattern of deputy presidents succeeding the president. 

From Thabo Mbeki succeeding Nelson Mandela, to Jacob Zuma succeeding Thabo Mbeki and Cyril Ramaphosa succeeding Jacob Zuma, Mashatile is in the prime position. 

Mashatile was born in 1961 near Pretoria. His mother, a domestic worker, and his father, a Bishop of the East Hethlon Church, lived on a farm with their eight children.

In 1982, he joined the Congress of South African Students, affiliated with the ANC. He started the Alexandra Youth Congress and was recruited to work underground for the banned ANC.

He spent four years in prison for his political activism. Following his release, and the unbanning of the ANC, Mashatile became a Provincial Secretary.

He became Premier of Gauteng in 2008 until 2009. After, he was appointed Minister of Arts and Culture from 2010 to 2014.

Mahsele warns that this would spell trouble for the Government of National Unity (GNU), as the second biggest party in the GNU, the Democratic Alliance (DA), will not be associated with Mashatile. 

The DA has been critical of Mashatile, most recently accusing him of involvement in the awarding of the fourth Lotto license to Sizekhaya Holdings, which has been linked to Mashatile’s family. 

The party also flagged that Mashatile failed to disclose that his wife was recently gifted a diamond by alleged fraudster Louis Liebenberg in July 2025, resulting in a R10,000 fine for the deputy president.

The party made additional corruption-related allegations against Mashatile, relating to the purchase of a R28.9 million Cape Town property.

Journalist and Author Pieter Du Toit, who has recently written the book “The Dark Prince” on Mashatile, critiqued his dependence on others to fund his lifestyle,

Du Toit compares the networks of politically-connected individuals operating around Mashatile to those that surrounded Jacob Zuma. 

“If we decide to say, let’s just give Paul Mashatile a chance, we’d make a grave mistake. He lacks a political compass. He is someone who is open to influences outside of what can be considered proper.”

“He’s a deeply problematic character,” Du Toit said in an interview with Business Live.

Fikile Mbalula

Secretary General Fikile Mbalula has been listed as a key candidate in the race for ANC President by Mashele as well as Economic Freedom Fighters’ leader Julius Malema. 

“At the rate the ANC are going, if they leave Mbalula to run the way he is running, he will be president, because the man is running,” Malema said.

“He tells everybody to keep quiet, and then he speaks when everyone else is quiet about the race. He’s organising the provinces. He will take over.”

Mbalula was born in 1971 in the Free State. He first entered politics as the President of the Botshabelo Youth Congress in 1986. he later joined the United Democratic Front in 1989.

Soon after, he became involved in the ANC Youth League, becoming Regional Secretary and then provincial Secretary.

Mbalula has served as Minister of Transport in the 6th administration, as well as previously serving as Minister of Police and Minister of Sports and Recreation. 

Having served as Secretary General of the ANC Youth League, he continues to garner much of his support from the ANCYL.

Here he became an outspoken supporter of Jacob Zuma.He supported Zuma at the 2007 Polokwane Conference when he was elected President. 

As the ANC member responsible for managing the party’s structures, Mbalula is in a position to control which branches attend the elective conference.

He has shown his ability to rally support in provinces where leadership has collapsed, and the task teams that have been appointed to these municipalities to build this support, are beholden to him.

Nomvula Makonyane

In an interview with Times Live, First Deputy Secretary Makonyane said without hesitation that she would run for ANC president. 

She said that she believes the party is ready for a woman president, and she’s prepared to stand, should her name be put forward for the elections. 

“If the ANC structures are calling for someone to stand, and that person is eligible in line with the ANC constitution, why must you stop that person?” She said.

“Women took up arms in Umkhonto weSizwe. Albertina Sisulu took care of the underground structures here at home. Women died for this organisation. So why must somebody still be asking, ‘Are women ready?”

Makonyane was born in Gauteng in 1963. She started participating in the fight against apartheid at the age of 15, joining the Young Christian Students (YCS). 

She was an organiser in the Federation of Transvaal Women and part of the leadership of the Kagiso Residents’ organisation. 

She has been a National Executive Committee member of the ANC since 1994.  She trained in Sweden in Local Government and Planning Management and went on to study Economics at Wharton Business School at Pennsylvania University. 

She served in the Gauteng legislature from 1994 in various portfolio committees, and was appointed MEC of Agriculture, Conservation and Environment in 1996. 

She also served as MEC for Safety and Liason from 1999 to 2004 and Housing MEC from 2004 to 2009. She was then appointed Premier of Gauteng in 2009.