President of the African National Congress (ANC) Cyril Ramaphosa defeats former Health Minister Zweli Mkhize to retain the party’s leadership at the ANC’s 55th National Conference held at Nasrec in Johannesburg.
The Head of the party’s Electoral Committee Kgalema Motlanthe has just revealed the results with Ramaphosa receiving 2 476 votes against 1 897 votes for Mkhize.
Gallery | ANC Top 7 announcement:
The ANC Electoral Commission is announcing the results of voting for the party’s Top Seven leadership which took place on Sunday.
Paul Mashatile becomes the deputy president of the party defeating Oscar Mabuyane and Ronald Lamola for that position. Fikile Mbalula is the next Secretary General of the ANC with Nomvula Mokonyane as the First deputy SG followed by a Second Deputy Secretary General Maropene Ramokgopa.
Gwede Mantashe also retains his position as the Chairman of the party while Dr Gwen Ramokgopa has made history by being the ANC’s first female Treasurer-General of the ANC.
The Top 7 is now composed of 7 leaders 4 males and 3 females.
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In February 2018, Ramaphosa was elected as South Africa’s fifth democratically elected president.
This is his second term as president of the ANC.
He took on the presidency in 2018 after being elected party leader in 2017, vowing to root out corruption and fix the economy.
But, just as he was about to launch his second term campaign, he faced calls to resign after an advisory panel discovered preliminary evidence that he may have committed misconduct. He has denied any wrongdoing and is not being prosecuted.
Ramaphosa was the African National Congress’s lead negotiator during the talks that led to the peaceful end of apartheid in 1994, allowing Nelson Mandela to become South Africa’s first Black president. -Additional reporting by Reuters
