50th National Conference of the African National Congress

50th National Conference of the African National Congress
← 1994 16–20 December 1997 (1997-12-16 – 1997-12-20) 2002 →
3,000 party delegates
 
Candidate Thabo Mbeki
Delegate vote Unopposed
President before election

Nelson Mandela

 Elected President

Thabo Mbeki

The 50th National Conference of the African National Congress (ANC) took place from 16 to 20 December 1997 at the University of the North West[1] in what was then called Mafikeng. Attended by 3,000 voting delegates,[2] the conference elected a successor to outgoing ANC President Nelson Mandela, who declined to stand for another term. Thabo Mbeki was elected unopposed, and Jacob Zuma was elected unopposed as his deputy; they were later elected President and Deputy President of the country in the 1999 general elections, in which the ANC won 66.35% of the vote, up from 62.65% in 1994.

Although the conference entirely changed the composition of the party's top leadership, with Mbeki and Zuma the only residuum of the so-called "Top Six" as elected in 1994, most candidates were elected unopposed, and there was relatively little appearance of friction from any wing of the party. On some accounts, this was because the top leadership prepared assiduously for the conference, advocating unity and continuity, lobbying for a slate of preferred candidates, and negotiating compromises with potential dissidents.[3][4] However, two of the top positions – National Chairperson and Deputy Secretary General – were contested, and neither went to the Mbeki-allied candidate. The conference also elected the 60-member National Executive Committee (NEC) without any significant upsets. Significant resolutions of the conference endorsed cadre deployment; endorsed the controversial Growth, Employment and Redistribution policy; and changed the ANC constitution to reduce the frequency of the national conferences and to centralise the election process for parliamentary candidates.

  1. ^ Duke, Lynne (18 December 1997). "Winnie Mandela drops bid for ANC's no. 2 post". Washington Post. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  2. ^ "50th National Conference: Credentials Report". ANC. Archived from the original on 20 March 2015. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference :4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).