ANC treasurer general Zweli Mkhize has sidestepped questions on the party’s leadership battle after Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane said it was a foregone conclusion.

“I am not able to comment on that because I do not know what the statement was. Unfortunately‚ I was not there‚” Mkhize said.

He was addressing journalists at the Joburg Indaba held in Sandton on Wednesday.

Speaking at a gala dinner on Tuesday‚ Zwane had said: “We already know who will be the president. It’s a done deal. We are not stressing. The policies won’t change. In January‚ there will be new leadership and policies will remain the same.”

Zwane said the matter had already been decided at branch level and the result was already known within the party.

He made the remarks at a gala dinner on Tuesday night.

The ANC is expected to elect a new leader in December. The contest has sharply divided the party‚ in particular those rallying behind deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa and rival Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

President Zuma has openly thrown his weight behind his ex-wife.

Zwane’s comments came just days after a violent brawl at a provincial ANC leadership conference in the Eastern Cape.