In a wide-ranging and defiant interview on the sidelines of the African National Congress’s (ANC) fifth National General Council (NGC), the party’s National Chairperson, Gwede Mantashe, framed his legacy around a single, bold claim: that he and others in the leadership “saved the ANC from the Zuma destruction.”
The NGC, a mid-term policy and review forum, is currently underway with a stated focus on party renewal. When questioned about leadership being central to this renewal, Mantashe launched a sharp critique of the media’s focus on individuals, insisting the ANC’s strength lies in its collective “leadership” structure.
“You all believe that the NGC is about leaders and is about individuals. And it is not about [an] individual,” Mantashe stated. “It’s about the body of the ANC… We hardly use the term ‘leader’; we use the term ‘leadership’.”
He pushed back against the narrative that the party had failed to achieve renewal since placing it on the agenda in 2017, arguing that renewal is a “journey” and pointing to the resuscitation of the party’s leagues as evidence of progress. He also firmly dismissed speculation of internal coups, stating, “It’s not going to happen because we are a disciplined organization.”
The conversation turned to Mantashe’s own future as he approaches the end of his term as National Chairperson in 2027, marking two decades in the ANC’s top leadership. When asked to define his legacy, his response was pointed and historical.
“The first thing is that we saved the ANC from Zuma destruction,” Mantashe said. “Only now do people realize how hard we worked to save the ANC from destruction. If we didn’t stand firm, there would be no ANC today. I can assure you.”
He defended his role as Secretary General during former President Jacob Zuma’s troubled tenure, rejecting the suggestion that he enabled Zuma. “Many of you were saying I’m protecting Zuma when I was secretary… I insisted, listen guys, I’m not protecting Zuma. I’m representing the African National Congress. Zuma is just a symbol of a body called the ANC and we had to protect and defend that body. We did that consistently for 10 years.”
Mantashe, who is over 70, reiterated his intention to retire from the party’s top structures. “I’m old… the brain is sharp but the body tells me every morning that… you have been in the field for too long, get out of the way, and I’m going to do that.”
He used this stance to firmly rule out support for any attempt to extend President Cyril Ramaphosa’s tenure beyond the constitutional two-term limit. “No, we’ll not do that. We fought the third term successfully with [Thabo] Mbeki. We’re not going to allow it today.”
On the critical question of who should lead the ANC after the current cohort, Mantashe declined to name individuals, again stressing the collective. “It is not about the individual, it is about whether we’ll get a good collective to lead the ANC.”
Despite the ANC’s historic electoral defeat in the 2024 polls, where it lost its outright national majority for the first time, Mantashe expressed unwavering confidence in the party’s endurance. He traced its electoral decline back to 2004 and lamented that the party’s own 2017 diagnostic report, warning of collapse, was ignored.
“The ANC will survive forever,” he asserted. “It is a political party located in society and all the features of society are in the ANC… It is likely to pick up now.”
The interview concluded with Mantashe’s stark reflection on his decade serving under Zuma and his belief that the party he defended remains intact and poised for a future he will observe from the sidelines.
