"I don't think we should say something that will make other comrades uncomfortable."
South African President, Jacob Zuma, has called for unity within the ANC after he and his team, including business tycoon, Cyril Ramaphosa, won the leadership contest of the party by an overwhelming margin at the ruling party's 53rd elective conference in Manguang on Tuesday, December 18.
Zuma, Ramaphosa(deputy president), Ms Baleka Mbeta (national vice-chairperson), Gwede Mantashe (secretary general), Ms Jesse Duarte (asst secretary general) and KwaZulu-Natal Premier, Dr Zweli Mkhize, trounced Deputy President, Kgalema Motlanthe, and his team for the top six positions.
Zuma and his team's victory was welcomed with supporters bursting into wild and thunderous shouts of "Mholozi, Mholozi" - the clan name of Zuma. Some of the supporters also made derogatory remarks against some of the leaders who lost the battle. These leaders imcluded Tokyo Sexwale, Minister of Human Settlement; Fikile Mbalula, Minister of Sport, and former treasurer, Mathew Phosa.
Addressing the delegates after his victory, Zuma extended an olive branch to his opponents and called for unity within the ANC. At the same time he reprimanded those who had used an unwelcome language against those who had lost the elections.
"From now," he said, "we must realise that the national
conference has spoken and all of us are part of that decision".
"I don't think we should say something that will make other comrades uncomfortable. If you elect leaders to lead, then they must lead a united organisation, not a divided one."
The delegates I spoke to seemed confident that Zuma along with his new deputy, business tycoon Cyril Ramaphosa, are the best leaders to head the ANC
over the next decade.
A woman delegate from Pongola in northern KZN said:
"I think it is the best thing ever that has happened to
the African National Congress. As a women's league member, I am just happy because I was just thinking he's the best man to take this country forward."
Another delegate from Eastern Cape said he had absolute faith that Zuma and Ramaphosa would work together to overcome the triple evils of unemployment, poverty and inequality.
"The two combination of President Jacob Zuma and deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa is a very great force
and I wish they will support Ramaphosa when he eventually takes over from Zuma as president of the country," said the delegate.
Ronald Lamola of the ANC Youth League is a supporter of defeated candidate, Kgalema Motlanthe, and his team. He accepts the election result but warns that the new top six leaders must ensure that
mediocrity does not creep into the organisation.
He said they would convince the conference to tackle the serious economic issues affecting the people.
"For us now it is a moment to go into the commissions
to discuss our policies on economic freedom, strategic nationalisation of certain assets and also the expropriation of land without compensation and to speak on issues of youth unemployment, education
and also issues of youth development in the country."
One of the senior members of the ANC, Trevor Manuel, is a former comrade friend of this correspondent. He told me in an interview after the election of Zuma and his team that he was confident that the Zuma-Ramaphosa leadership team would continue with
socio-economic transformation policies.
Asked whether he was hopeful that the
election of Zuma and Ramaphosa will send a positive message to the outside world, he replied:
"I hope so, but I think the elections have passed
and passed peacefully and we are on the platform to do the next wave of things."
The next "wave of things" would be improvement of the socio-economic conditions of the majority through the creation of "jobs, jobs, jobs".
Unfortunately, Manuel, who has been credited with the development of the National Development Plan, will not be in the ANC national executive. He has announced that he wanted to give younger members of the organisation the opportunity to play a greater role in the ruling party.
I also spoke to Mr Ravi Pillay, the KZN MEC for Human Settlement, who attended the conmference as a delegate.
He told me that election of Zuma and Ramaphosa was not a surprise because they had been keeping a watch on the development in the branches and regions in the run-up to the conference.
"You must understand that this is not a one man show. It is a collective and I am confident that the new leadership is fully equipped to take the organisation forward."
The vice-rector of Johannesburg University and Political Analyst, Professor Adam Habib, told me that it was because of the slate system that Zuma and his team was elected by such a large overwhelming majority.
"This was not a surprise but what must be remembered is that the ANC is a divided organisation. I am not too sure that the Zuma-Ramaphosa leadership will be able to overcome the social and ecomic issues because many of the leaders are not showing the way."
Although some people have stated that the election of Zuma for a second term will not be good for the country, there's no doubt that the election of Ramahosa will send a positive message to the business sector and the outside world. This was already noticed on Tuesday afternoon(Dec 18) when the price of the rand increased over the US Dollar.
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