53rd National Conference of the African National Congress

53rd National Conference of the African National Congress

← 2007 16–20 December 2012 (2012-12-16 – 2012-12-20) 2017 →
← Outgoing NEC Elected NEC →
4,500 party delegates 50% + 1 votes needed to win
Candidate Jacob Zuma Kgalema Motlanthe Popular vote 2,978 991 Percentage 75.03% 24.97%
President before election Jacob Zuma Elected President Jacob Zuma

The 53rd National Conference of the African National Congress (ANC) was held in Mangaung, Free State from 16 to 20 December 2012, during the centenary of the ANC's establishment, also in Mangaung.^[1] It re-elected incumbent President Jacob Zuma and his supporters to the party's top leadership and National Executive Committee (NEC), solidly defeating an opposing group that had coalesced around presidential challenger Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe.

The conference was a precursor to the general election of 2014, in which, due to the ANC's internal norms and substantial electoral majority, the ANC President was extremely likely to become President of South Africa. Zuma was indeed re-elected to the presidency in 2014 when the ANC won 62.15% of the national vote. The conference also represented only the second electoral contest for the ANC presidency since 1952^[2] – at the 52nd National Conference of the African National Congress in 2007, Zuma had himself broken from the ANC's tradition of appointing presidents unanimously when he deposed incumbent Thabo Mbeki.

The conference is also notable for inaugurating the political renaissance of Cyril Ramaphosa, a former ANC Secretary General and longstanding NEC member who had resigned from politics in 1997 to pursue a career in business.^[3][4] He was elected ANC Deputy President at Mangaung and eventually became Zuma's successor.