The campaign to position billionaire businessman Patrice Motsepe as a potential future leader of the ANC is operating in full swing, despite the party’s national executive committee (NEC) instructing members not to campaign ahead of its 2027 elective conference.
The Mail & Guardian this week visited the Johannesburg offices linked to the so-called PM27 Savumelana campaign, where organisers were coordinating activities associated with the initiative supporting Motsepe.
One of the chief campaigners for the initiative, Ishmael Mnisi, said it was currently focusing on strengthening the ANC ahead of the upcoming local government elections.
The campaign believes capable and stable municipalities are central to improving service delivery and rebuilding confidence in the governing party, Mnisi said.
The PM27 campaign’s present activities were aimed at reinforcing the ANC’s organisational strength at the grassroots level rather than formally campaigning for leadership positions, he added.
“Our work at the moment is focused on helping consolidate the ANC’s support base and electoral performance across the country,” Mnisi said, adding that the PM27 Savumelana campaign had already established national and provincial structures to coordinate its activities.
A 24-member national coordination structure had been formed, led by national convenor Thulani Ngesi and secretary Ayanda Ngangelizwe, alongside nine provincial coordination teams responsible for engagement and mobilisation in each province.
Mnisi said organisers were engaging ANC branches and internal party structures across the country as part of efforts to build broad support for the initiative. Provincial teams were working with regional and local ANC leaders to extend the campaign’s reach in both urban and rural areas.
The campaign was built around the principles of unity within the ANC, ethical leadership, organisational renewal and socio-economic transformation, Mnisi said. Supporters believed Motsepe’s background in business, philanthropy and nation-building positioned him as a leader capable of guiding the ANC into a period of renewal.
He however emphasised that the campaign would only formally mobilise behind Motsepe’s candidacy once the ANC national executive committee opened nominations ahead of the 2027 conference.
“The campaign is engaging ANC branches and structures across the country to build support at grassroots level. Provincial teams are also working with regional and local leaders, as the initiative gains traction among branches in both urban and rural areas,” Mnisi said.
Motsepe remains focused on his existing responsibilities and has not expressed interest in contesting the party’s top position, his spokesperson Luxolo September said. “Dr Motsepe has not indicated any intention to run for leadership of the ANC,” he said.
But despite this repeated denial, the M&G reported last month how speculation is mounting about him as a potential successor to President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Four ANC sources, business executives and political party officials said Motsepe’s name had moved beyond informal speculation into structured discussions.
A senior banking executive said Motsepe was seen as a credible, neutral candidate who could stabilise the party and reassure investors.
But the emergence of the PM27 campaign has become a growing source of irritation within ANC leadership structures. The party has repeatedly warned that leadership campaigning ahead of the conference is prohibited and risks fuelling factional divisions.
In a statement on Monday, ANC national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu said the party had noted with grave concern the ongoing activities associated with the so-called “PM27” campaign.
Bhengu said the national executive committee (NEC) had taken a clear and principled decision that no leadership campaigns should be undertaken in the run-up to the 2027 conference.
Any activity that seeks to prematurely mobilise for leadership positions stands in direct contradiction to this collective resolution, she said, adding that the ANC was currently seized with the critical task of preparing for and contesting this year’s local government elections.
“Our structures, deployees and members are expected to direct all energy and resources toward strengthening governance, improving service delivery, rebuilding communities and consolidating the confidence of the electorate,” she said.
“Efforts to advance parallel leadership campaigns at this stage are divisive, distract from the core work of the organisation and amount to an attempt to derail the ANC from its historic mission and responsibilities.”
The party therefore unequivocally condemned the “PM27” campaign and called on all those involved to desist immediately, Bhengu said, adding that the ANC would not allow ambitions to undermine organisational discipline and unity.
“Appropriate steps will be taken to ensure adherence to the decisions of the NEC and to bring all members into the discipline of the organisation, in line with the constitution of the ANC and the values that have sustained it for more than a century.”
In August 2024 the NEC — the highest organ between national conferences — resolved that no succession debate would be entertained after some members had called for it and the party’s top seven to be dissolved following the dismal outcome of the May 2024 general elections.
At the time, secretary general Fikile Mbalula said the debate over who would lead the party should not be discussed at that point and vowed to take a firm stance against those pushing for such discussions, telling journalists: “I am going to suppress them. You have never seen suppression in your life in the ANC — you are going to see that. Our preoccupation cannot be who the leader is.”
The ANC was still smarting at the time after its support dropped to 40% in the vote, falling below the majority needed to govern outright for the first time since the first democratic elections in 1996. This forced Ramaphosa to form a coalition with nine other parties including the former main opposition Democratic Alliance.
In June last year, Mbalula again raised concerns about speculation over Motsepe as a potential ANC leader.
“Right now people are talking about a person who we don’t even know has a branch and they are saying he is going to be president of the ANC because he has money,” Mbalula said.
“These people who say they want Patrice Motsepe — I don’t even know if he is an ANC member. Yes, we do eat his money from time to time but there must be discipline in the ANC. If Motsepe wants to lead the ANC, let him show himself through the branches and prove that he is a member of the ANC.”
Last month, Mbalula also reaffirmed that the succession debate would only take place in 2027 in the lead-up to the National Conference, saying there will be no 2027 without 2026. He warned that those responsible for printing “PM 2027 Savumelana” T-shirts would be dealt with.
He vowed that if such T-shirts were seen in ANC branches, they would be collected and thrown in the dustbin, saying those campaigning for Motsepe were not ANC members and were diverting attention from issues the party would have enough time to debate after the 2026 elections.
“That matter is not open now. People cannot have preferences at this stage. We should be focusing on the task of reclaiming lost ground. In 2027, the whole year, we will be talking about candidates and all of that,” he said.
He added that he had not engaged Motsepe on the matter but would deal with those perpetuating the PM2027 campaign, adding that the billionaire businessman should instead be contributing funds to the ANC ahead of the 2026 local government elections.
A campaign source said as they prepared to formalise its activities ahead of the conference, they were confident of Motsepe’s chances in a contest which might pit him against Mbalula himself.
“The reason why the ANC is irritated by our movements is because they can see that we are making headway. They are disingenuous because they say no campaigning but everywhere you go you can see that Mbalula is campaigning, but wants people to mobilise at the last minute,” the source said.
“We will not stop, the voters will be familiar with Motsepe when 2029 comes.”
The campaign promoting the billionaire businessman as a potential future leader continues to organise nationally despite the ANC’s directive banning such moves ahead of its 2027 elective conference