Delegates cast their votes for ANC top seven leaders at Nasrec

Voting for the ANC top seven officials is under way at the party's 55th national conference in Nasrec, Johannesburg.

Nominations, which got under way in the early hours of Sunday, saw outgoing party president Cyril Ramaphosa go head to head with former health minister Zweli Mkhize in the presidential race.

Outgoing NEC member Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who was nominated from the floor, declined nomination.

Three provinces are voting — Northern Cape, Free State and Western Cape. Once the voting process is completed, ballots will be counted manually.

The ANC top brass now has seven leaders after the conference adopted a resolution to expand the party's official leadership from six to seven.

These include the positions of president, deputy president, national chair, secretary-general, two deputy secretary-generals and the treasurer-general.

Updating the media on day three of the national conference, outgoing national spokesperson Pule Mabe said credentials were adopted on Saturday and the nomination process was concluded.

“We still hope to have the results of the officials announced today, and once those results are announced we will then be seized with the nominations of additional leaders so when we come back we are able to start with the voting.”

The process would be guided by the steering committee, he said.

Deputy president David Mabuza was officially out of the race after he declined nomination to re-contest his position.

There was an upset over the first deputy-secretary position with Nomvula Mokonyane, who initially appeared to be uncontested, ended up facing a challenge after delegates from the Northern Cape nominated Tina Joemat-Pettersson from the floor.

Joemat-Petterson's nomination was supported by the Eastern Cape and Western Cape, allowing her to reach the required threshold of 1,109 nominations to make it onto the ballot.

LISTEN | It's voting day for the ANC — here is what you need to know

Eastern Cape chair Oscar Mabuyane, outgoing treasurer-general Paul Mashatile and justice minister Ronald Lamola are now slugging it out for deputy president.

There were no surprises for the position of national chairperson — the contest will be between Gwede Mantashe, David Masondo and Stan Mathabatha.

Mantashe is seeking re-election to the position, while Masondo is an NEC member, and Mathabatha leads Limpopo as its provincial chairperson.

Mdumiseni Ntuli, Fikile Mbalula and Phumulo Masualle will fight it out for secretary-general.

Ntuli is a former provincial secretary of KwaZulu-Natal, and Mbalula and Masualle are NEC members.

Ramaphosa's adviser Bejani Chauke, Mabe and Ekurhuleni regional chairperson Mzwandile Masina will face off for treasurer-general.

NEC member Gwen Ramokgopa, whose name was raised from the floor for the same position,reached the threshold and will be on the ballot, making the position of treasurer the most contested in terms of the number of contenders.

Meanwhile, Eastern Cape suspended PEC member Andile Lungisa, who was nominated for the treasurer position but later disqualified, was nominated again from the floor, but the ANC reaffirmed he is barred from contesting for the position and will not be on the ballot.

NEC member Lindiwe Sisulu accepted a nomination from the floor. However, she failed to garner enough support from delegates to appear on the ballot.

The new second deputy secretary-general position sees ANC Women's League national co-ordinator Maropene Ramokgopa up against the Western Cape's Ronalda Nalumango, who co-ordinates the province's interim committee.

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