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Nas(w)rec(k)

Ace Magashule found himself in perhaps the most important battle of
his long, conflict-ridden political career in the period leading up to the
ANC’s December 2017 national conference at Nasrec. The first
indications that he would campaign to become the party’s new
secretary-general surfaced in around June that year.^1 His drive to
occupy this position could be viewed as at once a power play and a
fight for survival. The politically ambitious premier had probably
always intended to one day rise to higher stations outside of his home
province.
Having cast his lot with the Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma slate,
Magashule fought hard for the faction, but his personal campaign to
become secretary-general was much more consequential. Magashule no
doubt knew that he needed to make it into the ANC’s Top Six if he
were to prolong his political life, regardless of whether Dlamini-Zuma
prevailed over Cyril Ramaphosa or not. With the latter’s promises of a
‘new dawn’ in South Africa, an all-out defeat for the Dlamini-Zuma
slate could have been the end of the road for Magashule. Developments
after Ramaphosa’s victory gave a good indication of what his fate
might have been had he not squeezed himself into the Top Six. The
new ANC president was quick to pounce on one of Magashule’s old
‘premier league’ buddies, North West premier Supra Mahumapelo,
after violent protests in his province called for him to step down. With
pressure from Ramaphosa, Mahumapelo took ‘early retirement’ in May
2018.^2