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Outgoing ANC national spokesperson Zizi Kodwa says the party needs a president who will put its interests first and will not be a proxy of anybody.
Kodwa said the new ANC leader will need to emulate former statesman Nelson Mandela in being an unquestionable authority.
“You need somebody that you know even if you disagree with, even if he says no, you know that he says no to you with a good heart. There is no factional interest and he is not driven by something ulterior to the organisation,” said Kodwa.
He was speaking to City Press just hours before Cyril Ramaphosa was elected the party’s 13th president.
“You need somebody like that in the ANC. I hope the new leadership would have that somebody. There may not be too many; it may take one person and that embodiment is found in the president.”
Kodwa, who bows out after three-and-a-half years as the ANC spokesperson, added: “You need somebody whom you trust and that person, his interest is the ANC and nothing else. The president must not be suspected that he’s got other interests, particularly when it comes to the decisions of the ANC.
“There must never be a suspicion that there are other people in the national executive committee (NEC) that the president listens to more than the collective called the NEC. The president of the ANC must not have proxies and the NEC members mustn’t be the proxies of the president,” added Kodwa.
He thought the new ANC leadership, its president in particular, should be able to inspire individuals in the ANC to think independently but to respect democratic centralism, and that at the end the collective decision that must be respected.
“When that starts, it starts at the top. When the top doesn’t respect the outcome and the decisions of the organisation even in the government, it does not inspire those who are following.”
According to Kodwa, the new party leadership would need to be frank, with the president outlining from the first meeting the rulebook of the ANC and what it means.
Kodwa was backing Ramaphosa for ANC president. He tweeted on Monday morning: “Am casting my vote for comrade Ramaphosa for ANC President, whatever happens I trust he will restore confidence and inspire hope, it’s early hours but it’s worth waiting.”
He later told City Press: “I think at this moment the ANC needs an embodiment called Cyril Ramaphosa. We need somebody who can restore confidence and inspire hope, somebody who can change the mood of the nation. We need somebody to ignite something in the nation.”
The loss of three metros in last year’s local government elections was due to lack of inspiration from ANC voters, he said.
“It was a protest vote. We need somebody to inspire those people. The protest vote may not have been on the basis of our failure in terms of service delivery, they were not inspired by something.”
While Ramaphosa was not infallible and may commit mistakes, he is what the ANC needs, Kodwa said.
Kodwa, a father of a month-old baby girl Zoe, is hoping to spend more time with his family.
He wants to remain an ANC activist but adds “the worst punishment the ANC can give me now is to say I must be the spokesperson of the ANC again. I would know that the ANC doesn’t love me,” he joked.
He remains an ANC spokesperson until the new party leadership decides otherwise.
“But I can tell you I have no desire or ambition to become a spokesperson of the ANC [anymore]. A good dancer knows when to leave the stage,” Kodwa said.
