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52nd National Conference of the African National Congress

52nd National Conference of the African National Congress
← 2002 16–20 December 2007 (2007-12-16 – 2007-12-20) 2012 →
3,983 party delegates
50% + 1 votes needed to win
 
Candidate Jacob Zuma Thabo Mbeki
Popular vote 2,329 1,505
Percentage 60.75% 39.25%
President before election

Thabo Mbeki

 Elected President

Jacob Zuma

The 52nd National Conference of the African National Congress (ANC) was held in Polokwane, Limpopo, from 16 to 20 December 2007. At the conference, Jacob Zuma and his supporters were elected to the party's top leadership and National Executive Committee (NEC), dealing a significant defeat to national President Thabo Mbeki, who had sought a third term in the ANC presidency. The conference was a precursor to the general election of 2009, which the ANC was extremely likely to win and which did indeed lead to Zuma's ascension to the presidency of South Africa. Mbeki was prohibited from serving a third term as national President but, if re-elected ANC President, could likely have leveraged that office to select his successor.

Held on the Mankweng campus of the University of Limpopo,[1] attended by 4,000 delegates,[2] and often known simply as "Polokwane," the conference is frequently described as a watershed moment in post-apartheid South African politics.[3][4][5] Zuma's challenge to Mbeki's incumbency resulted in the party's first contested presidential election since 1952,[6][7] and it led to the first major split in the ANC since its unbanning in 1990.[3] Although former ANC President Nelson Mandela addressed delegates with a plea for unity,[8] the conference is thought to have heralded an era of factionalism within the ANC, and it was followed by the establishment of the Congress of the People by a pro-Mbeki splinter group. In September 2008, some months before the general election, the Polokwane-constituted NEC removed Mbeki from his position as national President, and Kgalema Motlanthe – who had been elected ANC Deputy President at Polokwane – was appointed interim President.

  1. ^ Du Toit, Pieter (11 December 2017). "The Polokwane Decade Is Over: 'Comrades, Comrades: Sit Down!'". HuffPost UK. Archived from the original on 10 December 2021. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  2. ^ "National Conferences 2007". ANC. Archived from the original on 8 November 2021. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  3. ^ a b Duvenhage, Andre (2012). "The Polokwane conference and South Africa's second political transition: Tentative conclusions on future perspectives". Koers. 73 (4). doi:10.4102/koers.v73i4.177.
  4. ^ Ngalwa, Sibusiso (15 May 2021). "The ghosts of ANC conferences past have many lessons for Ramaphosa". Daily Maverick. Archived from the original on 15 May 2021. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  5. ^ Gevisser, Mark (2007). "Thabo Mbeki, Jacob Zuma, and the Future of the South African Dream". Thabo Mbeki: The Dream Deferred. Jonathan Ball. ISBN 978-1-86842-301-9.
  6. ^ Twala, Chitja (30 June 2012). "The road to the Mangaung (Bloemfontein) National Elective Conference of the African National Congress in December 2012: A political challenge to the Jacob Zuma presidency?". Southern Journal for Contemporary History. 37 (1): 213–231. ISSN 2415-0509.
  7. ^ "ANC elections: No race in 2002". The Mail & Guardian. 29 June 2001. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  8. ^ "Mbeki booed by hostile Polokwane delegates". IOL. 17 December 2007. Archived from the original on 10 December 2021. Retrieved 9 December 2021.

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