JOHANNESBURG – The race for the African National Congress (ANC) presidency in 2027 is intensifying as influential party lobbyists reportedly approach former presidents Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe, alongside billionaire businessman Patrice Motsepe, to challenge for the party’s top post.
According to insiders, the internal campaign is part of an effort to reverse the ANC’s electoral decline and restore its public image ahead of the party’s elective conference in 2027 and next year’s local government elections.
Lobbying efforts are expected to heighten in the run-up to the ANC’s National General Council in December, where prospective candidates will begin testing their support and forming potential leadership slates.
Mbeki, who was recalled from the presidency in 2008, is said to be at the centre of the succession debate, with some party veterans and business figures urging him to return and “restore the party’s dignity and moral authority.”
He has not publicly indicated whether he would consider a comeback.
Motlanthe, who briefly succeeded Mbeki before Jacob Zuma’s rise, is also reportedly being courted by Gauteng-based ANC structures, particularly from the Greater Johannesburg and Tshwane regions. Some factions are said to be advocating for a Motlanthe–Motsepe ticket, though details remain unclear.
The campaign for the return of former leaders comes at a time when the ANC is struggling with declining public trust and internal divisions, following the formation of a Government of National Unity (GNU) after the party lost its parliamentary majority in the 2024 general election.
While Mbeki has been critical of his successors Jacob Zuma and President Cyril Ramaphosa—especially over Ramaphosa’s call for a National Dialogue on governance—Motsepe has firmly dismissed any interest in pursuing the presidency, despite his growing influence as both a businessman and President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
Political analysts are divided on whether a return of the party’s elder statesmen could stabilise the ANC or merely expose its ideological fatigue.
Political analyst Sandile Swana said those calling for Mbeki’s return “are right to identify him as a symbol of the ANC’s lost coherence.”
“Since Thabo Mbeki left office, the ANC’s decline has been clear,” Swana said. “The 2009 elections marked the beginning of consistent electoral losses, factionalism, and the splintering that led to formations such as the EFF and the MK Party.”
Swana, however, questioned the feasibility of the effort:
“The real question is whether those backing Mbeki can mobilise sufficient support on the ground—and whether business elites, who funded Ramaphosa’s rise, would do the same for Mbeki.”
Dr Metjie Makgoba, another political commentator, dismissed the lobbying as “a desperate attempt to recycle old leadership.”
“It’s political bluff and desperation. The ANC’s crisis is systemic—it’s been unresolved since 1994,” Makgoba said. “Mbeki and Motlanthe are too old for the role, and Motsepe lacks political experience. None of these names can fix what the ANC has become.”
Makgoba argued that the ANC now requires a new, pro-poor leader who can realign the party with its liberation-era ethos.
“The ANC became too comfortable and ideologically incoherent. If it doesn’t reinvent itself, it risks extinction,” he warned.
Speculation over Ramaphosa’s future and potential recall has also stirred debate within the GNU, though both analysts warned that another internal coup could be catastrophic.
“A recall of the state president would destabilise the government,” Swana said. “The GNU would have to reconstitute itself entirely, which would not bode well for national stability.”
Dr Makgoba added that Ramaphosa was unlikely to resign, calling him “the ANC’s political desk of the DA” within the GNU arrangement.
As the ANC heads toward a defining political season, the prospect of a Mbeki or Motlanthe return underscores both the party’s nostalgia for its former glory and its struggle to chart a new course in South Africa’s evolving democracy.