Sexwale not leaving ANC - report
2012-12-24 10:09
Johannesburg - Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale says
his future is in the ANC, according to a report on Monday.
"My future is the ANC. The movement is my home and I
have nowhere else to go," Sexwale told the Mail & Guardian.
The comment came exactly a week after Sexwale's bid to
become the African National Congress deputy president failed at the ruling
party’s elective conference in Mangaung, Free State.
Cyril Ramaphosa trounced Sexwale and Mathews Phosa to become
the ruling party's deputy president by garnering 3 018 votes to the pair’s
respective 463 and 470 votes.
President Jacob Zuma was re-elected as ANC president,
defeating the country's deputy president, Kgalema Motlanthe, by 2 983 votes to
991.
NEC
Both Phosa and Sexwale - along with every other candidate
who ran against nominees aligned to Zuma - failed to make it onto the 80-member
national executive committee (NEC), the ruling party’s highest decision-making
body.
Sexwale played down his exclusion from the NEC, claiming
that he has always been "in and out" of the body.
"Since the days of Oliver Tambo, after I was a prisoner
on Robben Island, I served on the NEC," Sexwale said.
"When I took a break [from politics] and went into
business I was off the NEC for almost 10 years and returned in 2007. This
doesn’t mean I am out - not at all."
Sexwale was referring to his entry into the corporate world
after serving as the Gauteng premier from 1994 until 1999.
- SAPA
