NATIONAL NEWS - Despite ANC figures showing deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa in the lead over Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma (NDZ) in the race for the ANC presidency, the reality is that there is no clear winner in sight at this stage.
All political experts who spoke to The Citizen were unanimous that there is a lot of ground to be covered before the likely winner was known and therefore it was difficult to make a prediction at this point.
Just over a week before the state of the party’s elective national conference, the race is still relatively a neck-and-neck affair between Ramaphosa and his next contender, Dlamini-Zuma. This is the case although all the ANC provinces had announced their preferences.
Ramaphosa has collected just over 55% of the ANC’s national branches to his cause, with most of the rest going to Dlamini-Zuma. But, nominations by branches do not equate to actual votes, so the race is still wide open.
Political analyst Prof Susan Booysen from Wits University described the ANC presidential race as a marathon and not a 100-metre sprint. She said there are at least 2 000 delegates whose votes were unclear to whom they were attached.
She said the fact that Ramaphosa was leading the race according to branch nomination should be a source of worry to the Dlamini-Zuma camp.
“The NDZ camp did not expect this – they expected a lead, even a comfortable lead. They were sure that the race would be sealed in her favour, but we know that it has not turned out that way,” she said.
