Thousands of delegates from South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) party yesterday cast secret ballots to choose their next leader after repeated delays to a vote seen as a decisive moment in the nation’s post-apartheid history.
The only two candidates in the tight race are Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, a wealthy businessman, and former minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who is South African President Jacob Zuma’s ex-wife.
The winner will be well-placed to be the nation’s next president in the 2019 general election.
Photo: Reuters
Voting started soon after midnight on Sunday and continued through yesterday morning after repeated delays due to disputes over which delegates were qualified to vote, with hundreds of attendees banned from the poll.
By yesterday morning, most of the 4,776 delegates had cast their ballots.
The result was expected later in the day, though it was unclear how long counting would take.
Despite allegations of delegates being targeted with bribes, ANC spokesman Khusela Sangoni told reporters that the process was “proceeding smoothly.”
On Sunday, rival supporters sang and chanted in the conference hall outside Johannesburg as the vote was repeatedly postponed amid arguments raged over delegates’ credentials.
“I have not slept for the past 24 hours, but I don’t care,” said Patience Nomodi, 62, a party member for 40 years, wearing an ANC blanket on her shoulders and walking with a yellow walking stick.
“I want a woman to be president before I die,” she said.
Ramaphosa-supporting delegate Siya Kolase said after voting yesterday that he was confident his candidate would emerge victorious.
“He will address the issue of corruption. He is going to stabilize our economy,” Kolase said.
The ANC, which has ruled since 1994 when Nelson Mandela won the first multi-racial vote, could struggle to retain its grip on power in the 2019 election due to falling public support.
Zuma, whose rule has been marred by graft scandals, is to step down as party chief at the conference, but will remain as head of state ahead of the 2019 vote.
In his farewell address, Zuma appealed for unity in a party riven by bitter factions and blamed the decline in the ANC’s popularity on “perceptions in society that we are soft on corruption, self-serving and arrogant.”
Zuma is seen as backing Dlamini-Zuma, who may protect him from prosecution over multiple graft charges.
Senior ANC officials are divided between Dlamini-Zuma and Ramaphosa, and analysts say the leadership battle could end up splitting the party.
The ANC is still South Africa’s biggest party by far, but the 54 percent it won in local elections last year was its worst poll result since 1994.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was