ANC’s ‘Next Generation’ Leaders Emerge

By: Mpho Sekharume

Party’s old guard gradually making way for a cohort of post-apartheid youth leaders and is ready to claim their ‘inheritance’

The African National Congress (ANC) stands on the precipice of monumental change, a shift not just of policy, but of personnel that defines a historical era. As the governing party looks towards its critical 56th National Conference in Decem ber 2027, the writing is starkly on the wall for the generation that steered South Africa through its democratic transition. The era of the 1994 class - the icons of liberation who transitioned from struggle he roes to national statesmen - is drawing to its definitive end. Cyril Ramaphosa, the incumbent president of both the ANC and South Africa, stands as the likely final chapter of this storied line age. He could arguably be the last president whose political identity was forged in the crucible of the immediate transition from apartheid and the drafting of the constitution. A cohort of youth leaders, moulded not necessarily in exile or on Robben Island, but in the ANC’s first wave of heightened youth activism in post-apartheid governance is stepping forward to claim their inheritance. At the forefront of this imminent transi tion is former ANC Youth League (ANCYL) president and current ANC Secretary-Gener al (SG), Fikile Mbalula, who is spearhead ing the new guard that postures as the next generation vanguard of the post-liberation leadership era. Mbalula, the party’s current engine-room operator controls the vital levers of the party organisation. Although often abrasive, Mba lula has undoubtedly proven to be energetic and unashamedly ambitious – a quality that might see him fin ish first over the finish line. He represents a break from the quiet di plomacy of the older guard, offering a loud er, more combative style of leadership that some believe is necessary to counter rising opposition populism. Through his actions and statements, Mba lula has clearly shown that his leadership time has arrived - positioning himself as a dynamic, modernising force ready to contest for the presidency itself. While Paul Mashatile, the current Depu ty President and a master tactician deeply rooted in the powerful Gauteng machinery, occupies the traditional position of the heir apparent, tradition is no guarantee in the modern ANC. Mashatile’s ascension to the helm is far from assured, despite straddling the divide between the established order and the in coming tide. His eventual departure will signal the end of predictable succession queues, and a swift Luthuli House takeover by the New Generation. While it remains obvious that all ANC leaders will declare that it is too early to make presidential bid predictions, the lead ership battle is fast shaping up not as a polite coronation of a chosen successor in Mbalu la - if signs displayed at the party’s national general council (NGC) are anything to go by. Mbalula’s ANCYL successor and current Economic Freedom Fighters Command er-in-Chief (CIC), Julius Malema, was quick to call Mbalula’s presidential bid at his party’s end-of-year press conference in December 2025 following Mbalula’s infor mal endorsement as the party’s next leader at the NGC through chants and party songs. Said Malema: “I am telling you now (that) Mbalula is going to be the president of the ANC - if there is no serious intervention made to stop him. As a former ANCYL leader, who got de posed through expulsion during Jacob Zuma tenure as ANC president, Malema is astutely familiar with the environment that charac terises his former party. “I warn you that this Mbalula, if they let him do what he is doing, he is going to lead them. “If it was a marathon, Mbalula is ahead… Paul is trying to catch up,” Malema stated. In retrospect, Mbalula ascended to the ANCYL presidency in 2004, after serving as ANCYL SG under Malusi Gigaba – who led the youth structure from 1996 until 2004. He might, therefore, leverage on his previ ous experience and tactics, while drawing support from his longstanding comrades who now largely fill the realm of the mother body. Leading up to the ANC 114th anniversa ry celebrations taking place in Moruleng, North West, on 10 January 2025, Mbalula once again sternly put his authority on full display. During a local door-to-door campaign visits to select homes in Monakato, Ward 25, Mbalula turn on his campaign charm with promises to promptly fix a water prob lem in the area to highlighting the munic ipality’s failure to provide residents with residential stands. All this while taking a subtle swipe at the local mayor and ward councillor – both ANC deployees. “What I see is that most of these problems we are able to fix. The problem is that most of the time some of the comrades speak too much English,” Mbalula retorted in Setswa na to a complaint by one of the residents that the municipality won’t avail land for settling in the area. His reference to leaders speaking “too much English” can be interpreted as an as sertion that some leaders shield their incom petence by confusing ordinary community members with eloquent yet fruitless rheto ric. He promised to follow up on the matter while cautioning the mayor and the council lor to act swiftly to resolve the issue. This was just another one of many signs of his bullish that clearly signify his presidential hotseat ambition. Apart from Mbalula, the field is further crowded by highly influential figures who embody different facets of the ANC’s future potential. Ronald Lamola, the youthful Min ister of International Relations, represents the intellectual, reformist wing of this new generation. At only 42 years of age, Lamola is wide ly viewed as the face of a modernised, pro fessionalised ANC, appealing to a middle ground desperate for competence, ethical renewal, and technocratic ability. Although he may be dismissed as being too young to rise to the hotseat, he will most likely land a lucrative role in the national executive com mittee top seven. Conversely, Panyaza Lesufi, the omni present Gauteng Premier, offers a popu list, on-the-ground dynamism that few can match. Lesufi’s brand of highly visible, ac tion-oriented politics resonates deeply in the crucial urban battlegrounds where the ANC is fighting its toughest survival battles. The ANC hierarchy surely now under stands that to survive in the complex new reality of coalition governments, declining majorities and the importance of the youth vote. The ANC cannot rely on the tired fac es of the past anymore, because the South African electorate is increasingly youthful, impatient, and disconnected from the his torical laurels the ANC has rested upon for over thirty years. The intense pressure from the ANC Youth League and the unforgiving math of national demographics means the party must present a fresher, younger face to the electorate be fore the 2029 national elections. This looming ANC takeover, therefore, promises to be a fierce or well-coordinated multi-front contest between the inheritors of the movement. It is set to mark a fundamental generation al handover that has been delayed for per haps a decade too long. The 2027 conference will be the arena where this battle is resolved, marking the definitive historical moment where libera tion generation will give way to the inher itors they raised.