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Triumphant Zuma calls for party unity, but...

TOP GUNS: The ANC's top six leaders Zweli Mkhize (treasurer), Cyril Ramaphosa (deputy president), Jacob Zuma, (president), Baleka Mbete, (chairperson), Gwede Mantashe (secretary-general) and Jessie Duarte (deputy secretary-general) after their election. PHOTO: ELMOND JIYANE
TOP GUNS: The ANC's top six leaders Zweli Mkhize (treasurer), Cyril Ramaphosa (deputy president), Jacob Zuma, (president), Baleka Mbete, (chairperson), Gwede Mantashe (secretary-general) and Jessie Duarte (deputy secretary-general) after their election. PHOTO: ELMOND JIYANE

SUPPORTERS of President Jacob Zuma, buoyed by his victory, are now planning to exclude the group that supported Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe from the national executive committee of the party.

But Zuma was more reconciliatory, calling for unity in the party and intervened when delegates sang songs mocking Motlanthe and those that supported him.

In the songs, delegates mocked those who lost the contest saying they should not be nominated to any of the ruling party's leadership structures. They accused them of "wanting to destroy the ANC".

"It is the manner in which we interact; we conduct ourselves; we begin here to address one of the fundamental principles of the ANC, the unity of the ANC," Zuma told delegates at the Mangaung conference.

Zuma's group won all the party's top six positions with majority votes.

Zuma received 2,983 of the 3,977 votes cast while Motlanthe only got 999. This means Zuma won almost two thirds of all votes cast.

Secretary-general Gwede Mantashe received 3,058 votes to secure re-election. Fikile Mbalula, who contested the position, only received 901 votes.

Former ANC spokeswoman Jessie Duarte was elect unopposed to the position of deputy secretary-general.

Motlanthe's defeat means businessman Cyril Ramaphosa takes over as deputy president.

Zuma's resounding victory is likely to lead to a reshuffle of the cabinet in the new year, with Ramaphosa replacing Motlanthe as the country's deputy president.

Other ANC leaders who contested Zuma's slate and might either face the chop or quit government, include Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale, North West premier Thandi Modise, Arts and Culture Minister Paul Mashatile and Mbalula.

The three respectively contested and lost the positions of deputy president, national chairman, treasurer-general and secretary-general.

Late yesterday, delegates nominated candidates for the ruling party's national executive committee, which is the highest decision-making body between conferences.

Those who signed acceptance forms included former director-general in Thabo Mbeki's office Frank Chikane, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and Minister of Public Enterprises Malusi Gigaba.

Some members of the ANC's alliance partners, Cosatu and the SACP have also signed acceptance forms to be included in the NEC. They include Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini, SACP leaders Zokwana Senzeni, Thulas Nxesi, Blade Nzimande and Buti Manamela.

Those excluded from consideration for the NEC include Sexwale, Modise, Mbalula and outgoing treasurer-general Mathews Phosa. Like Sexwale, Phosa contested and lost the position of deputy president.

"We are all agreed that for members of the ANC to have preferences is their democratic rights. We can't therefore be paying lip service to it. It must be seen in practice," Zuma told delegates.

He said contestation for leadership positions was part of the democratic culture of the ANC.

"Once the ANC has spoken we have to look at how we treat one another. We don't want a situation that after the elections, comrades, who are part of us and were exercising their democratic rights, must feel they are outside this decision. No one must feel so," he said.

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