Both Motlanthe and Phosa were last active and contesting for leadership positions on the same slate at the ANC’s Mangaung national conference in 2012, the former running as a presidential candidate and the latter as his deputy. The duo lost to a slate headed by former president Jacob Zuma and were subsequently pushed to the periphery of the party’s internal politics.
Now under the new ANC top six of President Cyril Ramaphosa, who succeeded Zuma, the former ANC deputy president (Motlanthe) and former treasurer-general (Phosa) are back in the spotlight and have been tasked with tightening some of the party’s most difficult decisions and election processes.
