Ramaphosa's term is expected to officially end in 2027.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula has warned ANC members not to use the upcoming National General Council (NGC) for their factional agenda.
This comes after reports of a faction within the ANC pushing for Ramaphosa to step down before the 2026 local government elections.
It is also alleged that Ramaphosa told a meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) on Sunday to stop spreading rumours about his alleged departure.
This year’s NGC will be held between 8 and 11 December in the East Rand, Gauteng.
The gathering is a forum between party’s national conferences, where the ANC reviews progress and challenges since the last conference.
Will the NGC remove Ramaphosa?
Mbalula addressed the media in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
“This one of replacing leadership is not on the agenda. I did explain to you that if members of the ANC want to replace this leadership, they are constitutionally empowered by the ANC constitution. You need to raise two-thirds of the structures of the organisation; it has not arisen, and it is not there.
“It is a tendency in the organisation that wants to digress the entire party; to focus on chasing ghosts, ghosts like Ramaphosa stepping down.
“Yes, it is a ghost that is there pursued by others; they believe in the [figment] of their imagination that such a thing will arise; they do not want this Ramaphosa because they were defeated in conferences of the ANC,” he said.
A ‘skilled’ president
Mbalula described Ramaphosa as an asset to the ANC.
“The leadership role that he has played under difficult circumstances, economic challenges, and all of that is commendable, and of course, there will be others who say no, we do not agree.
“We are a big organisation; you must have skills and shock absorbers that the ANC has had over the years to overcome such.
“When leadership is criticised, it’s not a problem…it is called refreshing the mandate and that is what we are going to be doing at the general council,” he said.
What’s on the NGC agenda?
Mbalula said the general council will rather focus on strategy and tactics rather than replacing party leaders.
“How do we, as the ANC, overcome this thing of coalitions through consolidating our majority? That is a strategic question…. What is counter-revolution and how we understand it is going to be debated in the general council.
“In our documents, we are going to deal with the question of the state of the National Democratic Revolution (NDR), the balance of forces.
“All of us in the NGC, we are going to discuss that, and we are discussing that in the branches as well as the regions,” he said.
Rumours
Mbalula denied that during the ANC’s three-day meeting over the weekend, there were calls for Ramaphosa to step down.
“I can tell you right now that in the ANC we are focused on rebuilding our structures and making sure that we mould this party to become formidable and emerge as stronger going forward, so there is no step down of Ramaphosa in the ANC,” he said.
What does the ANC constitution say?
According to the ANC constitution, the NGC has the right to ratify, alter or rescind any decision taken by any constituent body, units or officials of the ANC, including the evaluation of the performance of members of the NEC.
There was an attempt to remove Ramaphosa as president of the ANC through an NGC in 2019 but that failed.
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