ANC treasurer-general Paul Mashatile has his gaze firmly set on being the party's number two in December.
Mashatile has been nominated by several provinces to take over from ANC deputy president David Mabuza.
He's also received the most endorsements from provincial executive committees, taking the lead over his competition, the likes of ANC Eastern Cape chair Oscar Mabuyane, Justice minister Ronald Lamola and human settlements minister Mmamaloko Kubayi.
Speaking on the sidelines of the ANC’s Letsema campaign in Ditsobotla municipality in the North West on Wednesday, Mashatile said if he was nominated for deputy president he would accept nomination.
In the lead up to the ANC's 55th national conference, there are those who’ve said Mashatile would make an ideal president and replace ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa, who over the weekend faced calls for him to step-aside following the Phala Phala scandal.
However, Ramaphosa’s allies have rallied behind him and shut down calls for him to step down.
Asked whether he would accept a nomination to be the ANC’s next president, Mashatile said he had not heard those calls but did not completely shut down the possibility, leaving the door open.
“Well, I haven’t heard that yet. I’m staying where I am. By the way, the nominations are not yet official so when we open, we’ll see who’s nominated for what. For now I said if I’m nominated as I heard for deputy president I will accept. I haven’t heard of any other positions.
"Well, it would depend what is the reason for that. I think for now the envelopes are still being counted. By the time we get to conference we’ll know what delegates want me to do," Mashatile said.
While in the North West last week, Mashatile received a warm welcome from ANC members and volunteers who endorsed him as the deputy president.
Following the completion of the Letsema campaign, ANC members started singing "re tsamaya le wena", loosely translated to "we support you".
But Mashatile's visit to Litchtenburg also highlighted the appalling living conditions residents were subjected to.
No refuse collection resulted in piles of rubbish forming mountains on street corners were children played in filth. On this, Mashatile said it would be hard for the ANC to regain voter support in 2024 if it did not get the basics right.
"I think the voters want to see a better ANC, an ANC that is truly renewed, that has credible leaders, leaders that are not tainted, leaders that are committed to serving them with passion, leaders that are selfless but also they want to see an ANC that has put a lot of priority on problems that they face and a lot of urgency in how we deal with those challenges.
“We said to the people of Ditsobotla we’ll come back and get the municipality to attend to their problems.
“Communities, before they vote, want to be convinced that those they are voting for have their interest at heart. The thing they say they will do they do. I think if we do that we will convince people in 2024 the ANC is still the right party to vote for," Mashatile said.
On assessing the outgoing national executive committee (NEC), Mashatile said he could not deny the sentiments shared by fellow NEC member Nomvula Mokonyane that the current cohort was the weakest in the party’s history.
“Indeed, we have had a lot of challenges and I would agree that we have not been as strong as we should be.
“And therefore we can’t fight with people when they say we are a weak leadership. I think we should accept and say we’re going to change. We’re going to make sure we deal with those things that made us weak and one of those is factions.
“When comrades work as factions they can’t be strong. That is why the message to the conference now is unity. Let us unite, let us focus on implementation and let us make sure that we renew the NEC, we strengthen it and we attend to problems everywhere – at local, provincial and national government – and let’s fix whatever is broken,” he said.
Elected as treasurer-general at the last ANC conference in 2017, Mashatile has had to act as the party's secretary-general following the suspension of Ace Magashule and the death of Magashule’s deputy Jessie Duarte in July.
Alexandra-raised Mashatile has a long history of ANC activism in youth, student and civic associations. After replacing then ANC Gauteng chairperson Mbhazima Shilowa who had resigned from the ANC in protest over how the party had treated former president Thabo Mbeki, Mashatile served as the provincial premier for nearly a year before being replaced by Mokonyane.
He has also served as deputy minister of arts under then president Jacob Zuma’s government.
Over the NEC meeting, lobby groups of different candidates took the last official NEC weekend to consolidate slates and horsetrading.
One delegation from the Eastern Cape met with Mashatile’s lobby group with insiders saying the two were possibly aligning their votes.
While Mabuyane is said to contest Mashatile, despite not receiving an endorsement from outside his province, there are talks he could be nominated for secretary-general.
One insider said: “We met with Paul’s people and we got the sense there was a shift in alignment. Originally, Paul’s people seemed to have initially aligned themselves with [former health minister] Zweli Mkhize but now, if they do that, Paul will have to wait 10 years before ascending while with Ramaphosa it’s one year, even less than that if you consider Phala Phala (scandal).”
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