54th National Conference of the African National Congress

54th National Conference of the African National Congress

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4,776 party delegates 50% + 1 votes needed to win
Candidate Cyril Ramaphosa Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma Popular vote 2,440 2,261 Percentage 51.90% 48.10%
President before election Jacob Zuma Elected President Cyril Ramaphosa

The 54th National Conference of the African National Congress (ANC) took place from 16 to 20 December 2017 at the Johannesburg Expo Centre in Nasrec, Gauteng. At the conference, the ANC elected its National Executive Committee (NEC) and other top internal leaders. Often referred to as the Nasrec Conference, it was held during the centenary of the birth of former ANC President Oliver Tambo and was convened under the theme, "Remember Tambo: Towards Unity, Renewal and Radical Socioeconomic Transformation."^[1]

On 18 December 2017, Cyril Ramaphosa, who had been deputy president of the ANC since 2012 and Deputy President of South Africa since 2014, was elected president of the ANC, narrowly defeating Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. On 15 February 2018, following Jacob Zuma's resignation, the National Assembly indirectly elected Ramaphosa, unopposed, as President of South Africa.^[2] As ANC President, Ramaphosa was the party's candidate for president in the 2019 South African general election, which the ANC won with 57.50% of the vote. Indeed, because of the ANC's entrenched electoral majority at the national level, every ANC President since Nelson Mandela has been elected president. The internal elections at the conference were hotly contested at least partly for that reason.