Established 1961 7 International Monday, December 18, 2017 S Africa’s ANC set to elect leader to replace scandal-ridden Zuma Graft allegations shadow Africa’s economic powerhouse JOHANNESBURG: South Africa’s ANC is set to elect a ference,” she said. As well as electing a new leader, the successor to President Jacob Zuma in a leadership vote by ANC will choose senior officials such as the secretary gen- a party that has ruled since the end of apartheid but lost eral and members of the National Executive Committee. It its luster in a welter of scandal and corruption allegations. will also set policy priorities for the run-up to the 2019 Whoever emerges at the helm of the African National election. Under ANC rules, a majority of nominations is not Congress, a 105-year-old liberation movement that domi- the same as the most votes at the conference and delegates nates Africa’s most industrialized economy, is likely to are not bound to vote for a particular candidate. become the next president after elections in 2019. After How the delegates do cast their ballots may also be long delays on the first day of the ANC conference on subject to vote-buying and intimidation - widely acknowl- Saturday, the leadership contest remained too close to call. edged to have swayed previous leadership contests. ANC Most grassroots delegates backed Deputy President Cyril Chairwoman Baleka Mbete, also speaker of parliament and Ramaphosa, 65, or Zuma’s preferred candidate, his ex-wife running for the ANC’s top seat, publicly endorsed Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, 68. Ramaphosa. “We publicly endorse comrade Cyril The election is perhaps the most pivotal moment for the Ramaphosa,” she told reporters after Saturday’s opening ANC in its 23 years of power. Scandal and graft accusa- session at the conference. Mbete said she had not held tions have tainted Zuma’s presidency and the party that talks with Dlamini-Zuma. Stan Itshegetseng, chairman of launched black majority an ANC branch in Soweto, rule under Nobel Peace said: “I believe Cyril will Prize laureate Nelson win this election because Mandela is now deeply the majority of ANC divided, its image tar- branches endorsed him.” nished at home and abroad. Ramaphosa drew Winner likely to Neck-and-neck contest the majority of nomina- emerge as the Social Development tions from party branches Minister Bathabile scattered across the next president Dlamini, who heads the country. But the complex- influential ANC Women’s JOHANNESBURG: This photo taken in Johannesburg shows African National Congress (ANC) merchan- ity of the leadership race League, endorsed dise sold outside of the 54th ANC National Conference. —AFP means it is far from cer- Dlamini-Zuma. “We are tain he will win when the ready for a female presi- votes are finally counted. dent.” Carl Niehaus, a key Ramaphosa, courts ruled that officials from some party issued and called on the party to unite behind who- Owing to the delays, the final result is now expected member of Dlamini-Zuma’s campaign, said she would be provinces seen as supporting Dlamini-Zuma had been ever is declared the winner, saying: “The movement (ANC) only on Monday. “We hope to start voting at some point propelled to victory by “the grassroots and the poor. That elected illegally and were barred from the conference. The must be the winner and not individuals.” later this afternoon and have those results, as it now is important in South Africa because we have a huge gap rand currency firmed more than 2 percent after that news Zuma, who has been head of state since 2009 and ANC stands, possibly by tomorrow morning,” ANC Deputy between rich and poor.” on Friday. leader since 2007, has faced accusations that have dam- Secretary General Jessie Duarte. “We don’t rush results; Dlamini-Zuma pledged during her campaign to tackle ANC Youth League leader Collen Maine, who backs aged the ANC’s stature and caused sharp internal rifts. The we would like them to do a thorough and proper job.” the racial inequality that persists in South Africa since the Dlamini-Zuma, said that meant 122 delegates would be allegations have included undue influence in making cabi- ANC spokeswoman Khusela Sangoni said the party had end of white minority rule. Ramaphosa has vowed to fight prevented from voting, something he called “not signifi- net appointments and awarding state tenders to his completed vetting the eligibility of roughly 6,000 dele- corruption and revitalize the economy. That message has cant”. In his last speech as ANC leader on Saturday, Zuma friends, the wealthy Gupta family. Zuma and the Guptas gates to decide who would take part in the voting. gone down well with foreign investors. Colin Coleman, announced plans to raise subsidies to tertiary colleges and have denied any wrongdoing. In August, Zuma narrowly The ANC said 4,776 delegates of the more than 6,000 managing director of Goldman Sachs in South Africa, universities, a move analysts said was timed to appeal to survived another attempt in parliament to force him from attending the conference would be allowed to vote in the described the two candidates as “quite divergent” in their the more populist members of the party. He also lashed out office after some members of his party voted with the tight race. “Credentials are the make and break of the con- views on how to revive a lacklustre economy. In a boost to at members of the ANC who turned to courts to resolve opposition in a no-confidence vote. —Reuters save money,” the store owner said. Sales of the fossil News in brief China shivers as fuel traditionally used in the Chinese countryside was banned in this district of Hebei in the summer. Niezhuang is part of the Baoding municipality, one Pope celebrates birthday shift from coal of 18 districts in Hebei with a “zero coal” designation, but the transition to gas has been difficult. Thin yellow VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis celebrated his 81st birth- to gas sputters pipes now snake along the walls of the homes in the vil- day yesterday with a hero cake and a message urging lage, spanning alleyways and shifting in the wind. They the world-and children in particular-to join in the holiday BAODING: With temperatures dipping below freezing are marked by a sign: “Caution: Gas Pipes.” The gas mood and be joyful. The Argentine pontiff thanked the in a northern Chinese village, a group of parka-clad pipes came into operation in November. The heating is crowds gathered in Saint Peter’s Square for the Angelus women tried to stay warm as they played mahjong inconsistent, villagers said, and the bills costly. prayer as they sang happy birthday, and was expected to around a small gas stove in a grocery store. Many in According to Qin, a family must spend at least 5,000 slice into his birthday cake after lunch. It sports a picture China have been shivering more than usual this winter yuan ($750) over the winter-compared with 2,000 of the pope carrying the world on his shoulders, as authorities have curbed coal heating to fight pollu- yuan ($300) for coal-not including the subsidized price designed by Italian graffiti artist MauPal. The artist- tion and the switch to natural gas has been plagued by of the gas heater that must be purchased. whose real name is Mauro Pallotta-famously depicted shortages. In northern Hebei province, even a hospital Francis as Superman in 2014 and has since begun sup- and schools have struggled to heat their frigid facilities, ‘Incredibly dirty’ porting Vatican charitable projects by selling T-shirts prompting some teachers to hold classes outdoors in In some villages to the north of Baoding, households bearing the flying pope. the sunshine. “Of course we miss the coal,” said a were cut off from coal without even being connected to woman surnamed Qin, who had invited neighbors into gas heating, Caixin magazine reported. “There was a her grocery store in Niezhuang village-about 150 kilo- clear lack of communication and planning,” Greenpeace Algeria Xmas market meters south of Beijing-to play mahjong, a traditional energy campaigner Huang Wei told AFP, noting that Chinese game. Gas power is “completely unpre- authorities had months to prepare for the winter. One ALGIERS: A small Christmas market has opened in dictable,” Qin said. “One moment we have it, the next local government waited until October, right before the BAODING: A woman commutes on a street on a cold day in Algeria’s capital, catering to a rising number of Christian moment there’s none. And then it’s freezing.” cold weather started, to begin the bidding process for Baoding. —AFP African migrants as well as diplomats and locals in the The environment ministry has imposed tough anti- the installation of a gas pipeline, Huang said. overwhelmingly Muslim country. Around 99 percent of pollution targets on 28 cities around Beijing. At least Officials have been under pressure to deliver results Market analyst Zhou Xizhou said. In Baoding, long one Algeria’s population is Sunni Muslim but the number of three million homes must switch from coal to gas or in the fight against smog, which has become a health of the most polluted industrial cities in the country, a Christians has been rising due to an influx of migrants electric heating. In Niezhuang, all the coal stoves have hazard across swathes of China. “The year-end evalua- resident surnamed Wang beamed up at the blue sky and from sub-Saharan countries such as Mali, Niger and been destroyed, according to Qin.