Nomvula Mokonyane champions women’s leadership in ANC ahead of presidential race

As the ANC succession race gathers momentum ahead of the party’s 2027 elective conference, there appears to be a renewed push for the party to have its first woman president.

The Speaker of the National Assembly, Thoko Didiza’s name has been touted, while the ANC’s deputy secretary-general, Nomvula Mokonyane, also known as “Mama Action”, has signalled her openness to the top job, saying she wouldn’t reject a branch or structure nomination — and that more women should put up their hands.

Speaking to Daily Maverick on the sidelines of the ANC’s 5th National General Council (NGC) in Gauteng on Tuesday, 9 November, Mokonyane glossed over her presidential ambitions, saying:

“When the ANC processes open up, you do not first put your hand up. You are approached by the structures and you respond to them, and my take is no woman must ever say no.”

On Didiza’s possible candidacy, Mokonyane said: “There must be a conversation not only on Thoko Didiza but every woman.”

Mokonyane has been a major figure in South African politics for more than 20 years — serving as a Gauteng MEC, premier, a Cabinet minister and, since 2022, as one of the ANC’s top seven.

Her rise has come with controversy, notably when the Zondo Commission found that she received monthly payments, food and an Aston Martin from the corrupt company Bosasa, and then lied about this.

The report recommended that she be investigated and possibly formally charged.

When asked about the ANC’s calls for renewal in the light of her and several other party leaders being implicated at the Zondo Commission and the recent allegations made at the Madlanga Commission against sidelined Police Minister Senzo Mchunu, she said that other implicated ANC leaders (such as Gwede Mantashe and Cedrick Frolick, also linked to Bosasa allegations) had not refused to take accountability nor to answer questions.

“What is good about the ANC is that none of the ANC members who are being cited has run away from presenting themselves. That is what is important… No one said I shouldn’t go to a commission or the ad hoc committee, ” said Mokonyane.

Read more: Nomvula ‘Mama Action’ Mokonyane denied all, but revealed everything about where the heart of corruption lies in SA

ANC’s 2024 decline ‘unbelievable’

While ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula insisted the NGC was not a discussion point for leadership conversations, focus has shifted to who will replace Ramaphosa in 2027 when he concludes his second term as head of the party.

Reflecting on her tenure as DSG, Mokonyane said: “I’ve grown, I’ve embraced everybody, and I’ve come to understand that with leadership comes a lot of sacrifices, especially for a party like the African National Congress.”

Presenting the ANC’s mid-term report on Tuesday, Mbalula argued that the party’s decline was not sudden but a slow erosion over many years, starting in 2016.

Read more: ‘Time is not on our side’ — ANC reflects on GNU and declining voter support

Mokonyane, who was the head of elections during the party’s 2024 election campaign, said she had not foreseen the ANC’s devastating losses.

“No, a big no, because at that time we believed that we’d crisscrossed the country… And when the results came, we kept saying, ‘No, [votes from] Soweto [are] yet to come, KwaMashu is yet to come.’ It was unbelievable,” she said.

Read more: Who will be the next president of the ANC? It feels like a generational change is coming

‘America remains after Trump leaves’

Mokonyane also chairs the ANC’s National Executive Committee subcommittee on international relations.

This year has seen a flurry of back-and-forths between South Africa and the US, which included the G20 Presidency, which South Africa handed over to the US after a successful summit that the US boycotted. Other points of conflict include Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the proliferation of fake “white genocide” claims.

Read more: Trump’s fresh white genocide claims are ‘blatant misinformation’ — Ramaphosa

“We are not anti-United States of America. Leaders come and go. We believe that we must move beyond looking at the United States of America as the world,” said Mokonyane.

“We must diversify whilst making others beyond the Trump administration in the US to understand who we are, because they also need us.”

The US and South Africa, and their residents, needed each other for trade, she said.

“But what is of importance is that we also are not a sub-nation of the United States of America. We can go to many other places, and being barred from being in the United States of America does not mean you are a lesser being.

Read more: G20 South Africa goes post-Trump as middle powers signal fresh path

“Trump will be gone one day; America will remain. So the ANC is consciously embracing that, that governments come and go, nations remain, and that’s our approach on the United States of America.

“We must appreciate that we’ve been too comfortable with the relationship ... a relationship that is so inconsistent, but we shall remain working on it because it is for the good, not only of the two countries but for the good of the continent.”

Mokonyane said she sent invitations to the US embassy to attend the ANC’s NGC. “They were here, they were my guests,” she said. “They were invited by me on behalf of the ANC.”

She said she and the ANC had been victimised for their stance on Gaza.

“But for me, it’s a revolutionary cause that I see as an achievement to be cited by those who are supporting the killing of the people of Palestine as their enemy — it means there’s something right I’m doing,” she said.

“I know it’s going to come at a heavy price for me, my family, and those that I associate with,” she said without elaborating further. DM