ANC TOP 7

The results of the vote for the ANC’s top seven leadership positions were revealed at its 55th National Conference on 19 December 2022. We welcome the new leaders, who are expected to usher the party into the 2024 general elections

Cyril Ramaphosa was elected ANC secretary general in 1991 and became the ANC’s chief negotiator during the negotiations that ended apartheid. He was elected chairperson of the Constitutional Assembly after the first democratic elections in 1994. Ramaphosa resigned from politics in 1996 and became well known as a businessman. He returned to politics in 2012 and served as the deputy president of South Africa from 2014 to 2018. He was also chairman of the National Planning Commission. At the ANC’s 54th National Conference on 18 December 2017, he was elected president of the ANC. Two months later, the National Assembly elected Ramaphosa as president of South Africa. He began his first full term as president in May 2019 following the ANC’s victory in the 2019 South African general election. While president, Ramaphosa served as chairperson of the African Union from 2020 to 2021 and led South Africa’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

DEPUTY PRESIDENT PAUL MASHATILE

Paul Mashatile previously held the position of Treasurer General of the African National Congress from December 2017 to December 2022 and was the acting Secretary General of the ANC from January 2022 to December 2022. Formerly an anti-apartheid activist, Mashatile was recruited to the interim leadership corps of the ANC and SACP in 1990. He was elected to the Gauteng provincial legislature in 1994 and between 1996 and 2008, and later between 2014 and 2018, he held several ministerial portfolios in the Gauteng provincial government. Mashatile served as Minister of Arts and Culture between 2010 and 2014. Before that, he was briefly Premier of Gauteng province from 2008 to 2009. He remains especially influential in Gauteng, his home province, where he was also ANC provincial chairperson between 2007 and 2017. NATIONAL CHAIRPERSON

Gwede Mantashe made history by becoming the first trade unionist to be appointed to the board of Directors of a JSE Limitedlisted company, namely Samancor, in 1995. He was the Secretary General of the National Union of Mineworkers until their 12th National Conference held in May 2006 and Secretary General of the African National Congress at the party’s 52nd National Conference in 2007. On 18 December 2017, he was elected as the National Chairperson of the African National Congress. He is also a former chairperson of the South African Communist Party and Secretary General of the ANC. On 26 February 2018, during a cabinet reshuffle by President Cyril Ramaphosa, Mantashe was appointed Minister of Mineral Resources. In May 2019, he became Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, when his earlier portfolio was merged with the energy portfolio. SECRETARY GENERAL

Fikile Mbalula was elected President of the Botshabelo Student Congress in 1986. In 1987 he was elected to the Executive Committee of the South African Youth Congress (SAYCO) and proceeded to serve as an area member of the United Democratic Front (UDF). A seasoned politician at a young age, Mbalula was elected president of the ANC Youth League in August 2004, having previously held the post of secretary general. He was elected to the ANC NEC at the party’s Polokwane conference in December 2007. Mbalula ran the highly successful ANC campaign for the 2009 general elections as manager and is credited with assisting in installing a number of high-ranking leaders in office during that time. In May 2009, Mbalula became the Minister of Sport and Recreation and was appointed as Minister of Police in 2017.

FIRST DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL

SECOND DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL

Nomvula Mokonyane served in the Gauteng Legislature from 1994 in various portfolio committees before she was appointed MEC of Agriculture, Conservation and Environment in 1996. She became MEC for Safety and Liaison from 1999 to 2004 and was appointed Housing MEC between 2004 and 2009. She was elected as a member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the African National Congress at the 52nd National Conference in 2007, 2012 in Mangaung and 2017 in Nasrec. On 6 May 2009, Mokonyane became Gauteng’s first female premier. She was first appointed to the cabinet of South Africa in May 2014, serving as Minister in the Department of Water and Sanitation, a position in which she led the Lesotho Highlands Water Project. She became Minister of Communication under President Cyril Ramaphosa in January 2018 and holds an Honorary Presidential position of SA-China People’s Friendship Association. Maropene Ramokgopa served on the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL). She was member of the Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) in 2008. Ramokgopa co-founded the young women’s desk and wrote the concept document. She is a current member of the PEC of the African National Congress in Limpopo. In 2008, she served as manager and National Working Committee (NWC) coordinator of the ANCWL nationally. She served as the manager in the ANCWL’s national working committee during the time Angie Motshekga was the president. Maropene Ramokgopa is the Chief Advisor to the President of South Africa at the African Union (AU). In 2016, she represented South Africa as the head of mission at the consulate general in Mumbai, India, a position she served in for four years. TREASURER GENERAL

Dr Gwen Ramokgopa has worked as a health practitioner and a public servant. She served as a medical officer at GaRankuwa Hospital and later became the National Health Programme Manager at the Independent Development Trust. She was the executive mayor of City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality from 2006 to 2010 and before that served as the MEC for Health in Gauteng from 1998 to 2006. Following her term as Tshwane mayor, she was Deputy Minister of Health in the South African Government from November 2010 to May 2014. She is the chancellor of Tshwane University of Technology. She also served as chairperson of the executive committee of the former Pretoria City Council in 1995. Ramokgopa was born in Atteridgeville and completed her MBChB degree at MEDUNSA north of Pretoria.