Top backing for Ramaphosa
2007-10-29 15:50
Johannesburg - A former Cabinet minister on Monday called on the ANC's most influential branches to back business tycoon Cyril Ramaphosa as the party's next president.
Ramaphosa has said he has no interest in becoming South
Africa's next president, but he would likely be a leading
contender if he changes his mind, analysts say.
Kader Asmal, a member of the ANC's National Executive
Committee, said he'd nominated
Ramaphosa for the party's presidency last week at the powerful
Gaby Shapiro branch of the party in Rondebosch, Cape Town.
The branch includes five Cabinet ministers.
"I used my right as a member and senior member of the ANC to
propose his name and it was accepted overwhelmingly, no other
nomination got double figures," Asmal told Reuters.
Hasn't spoken to Ramaphosa
"I hope there will be hundreds of branches that nominate
him, because in my view he is the most suitable person to be
president of the African National Congress and the president of
South Africa."
Asmal said he had not spoken to Ramaphosa about joining the
race and it was up to him to decide.
The ANC holds a conference in December that will elect
a new party leader, who will almost certainly become South
Africa's next president, replacing Thabo Mbeki.
The ANC leadership race has so far focused on Mbeki and ANC
Deputy President Jacob Zuma, a rivalry that has helped plunge
the party into some of the worst infighting in its history and
could cause further damage as the race heats up.
Mbeki is constitutionally barred from serving again when his
term expires in 2009, though nothing prevents him from running
for another term as leader of the ANC.