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=Sexwale throws in lot with Zuma camp=


 * Hajra Omarjee, Business Day, 28 November, 2007**

Businessman Tokyo Sexwale has thrown in his lot with African National Congress (ANC) deputy president Jacob Zuma, allegedly offering to fund Zuma’s campaign to become ANC president at its elective conference next month.

With Zuma having secured about 60% of the ANC’s branch and provincial support in the nomination process, as well as securing the endorsement the party’s youth and women’s leagues, many ANC leaders are now believed to be clamouring for a place on his executive.

Sources in both the Sexwale and Zuma camps say the former Gauteng premier wants the position of ANC “national chairman”.

In exchange, Sexwale has allegedly offered to fund the intense lobbying during the build-up to the conference for the Zuma camp. With factions in the ANC presidential succession race having now identified the 4075 delegates who will have voting rights at the conference, insiders say there is a battle now on to “sway” the vote.

Ninety percent of voting delegates to the conference come from ANC branches. These are usually underresourced party structures that rely on voluntary participation. Some branch delegates are struggling to find the cash to get themselves to the conference. Some are preparing to hitchhike. Zuma will need funds to accommodate them and feed them, at the very least.

Others meanwhile have told Business Day that they were considering “lucrative offers in exchange” for their votes and have gone to the opposing faction to see if it can match the offers.

Sexwale is no stranger to the controversies that surround the business of politics in the ANC.

It was reported earlier this year that he had issued free shares in his Batho Bonke consortium, which owns a black empowerment stake in Absa Bank, to prominent black South Africans.

Sexwale at the time denied trying to buy influence.

But even if money is in play, it may not be enough to ensure Sexwale a place in a Zuma ANC executive.

On the Zuma camp’s proposed nomination list, Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is recommended for the position of national chairwoman. She also received the ANC structures’ endorsement for that position in the nomination process. But it is believed Dlamini-Zuma’s bargaining power in the Zuma camp diminished after she earlier this month expressed her confidence in President Thabo Mbeki’s leadership.

It is understood that when Sexwale’s presidential campaign fizzled at the weekend after provinces threw their weight behind either Zuma or Mbeki’s re-election bid, his backers jumped ship to join the Zuma election machine. Sexwale is believed to have scattered support in Limpopo, Eastern Cape, Free State and Gauteng.

Sources close to the Zuma and Sexwale camps have confirmed that “informal discussions” were ongoing.

“The talks centre on resources and how many votes Sexwale can bring to the Zuma campaign,” a source in Sexwale’s camp said.

But a Zuma insider also told Business Day that Sexwale had not secured enough support on the ground. “We need more than his (Sexwale’s) jacket and money, we need bodies to vote,” the source said.

With the ANC’s official nomination process having closed, any inclusion into the ballot for the top brass would have to be endorsed by 25% of the floor at the national conference.

But that does not mean horse trading has not begun.

Media reports this week quoted sources close to the Zuma camp giving DlaminiZuma an ultimatum to accept nomination under their list as the party’s national chairwoman or face replacement.

These sources said that her possible replacement would make room for a member of Mbeki’s cabinet, Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile, on the Zuma list.

The former Eastern Cape premier is expected to draw further support for Zuma in the province — the ANC’s biggest voting block — which narrowly gave its support to Mbeki in the nomination process.

Dlamini-Zuma, nominated on the Mbeki list as the deputy president, seemingly does not have ANC support for that post.

ANC secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe, who was nominated for the same post on the Zuma list, secured seven nominations for deputy president compared to Dlamini-Zuma’s four.

The ANC Women’s League also failed to back Dlamini-Zuma for the position of deputy president, opting instead for Motlanthe.


 * From: http://www.businessday.co.za/Articles/TarkArticle.aspx?ID=3070673**

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