South Africa: A poll places Patrice Motsepe in the lead to succeed Ramaphosa
The name of Patrice Motsepe has entered the race to succeed Cyril Ramaphosa. In a survey by the SABI Strategy Group conducted between August and September 2026, the South African businessman, who also serves as president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), arrived in first place in a hypothetical scenario for the leadership of the ANC, ahead of party officials, reports allAfrica on October 6, 2026.
The man in question, however, has not announced any intention to run for the party leadership. On the contrary, he has explained that he can serve his country without entering politics, the same source specifies.
A party that no longer has a majority
The question is not theoretical. The ANC lost its absolute majority during the May 2024 elections, with 40.18% of the vote, and has since been governing within a government of national unity coalition. For a party that has ruled South Africa without interruption since 1994, the choice of the next leader has become a matter of survival as much as legacy. The deputy president of the ANC, Paul Mashatile, is among the names being mentioned.
The fact that a poll places an undeclared candidate in the lead says a great deal about the state of the party: its base is looking for a figure who has not been worn down by internal squabbles and the governance scandals of the last decade. It is the same dynamic that, elsewhere on the continent, propels entrepreneurs and technocrats into debates they never asked to participate in.
Two incompatible chairs
A candidacy would also raise a concrete question, allAfrica points out: the compatibility with his responsibilities at CAF. Leading African football and a governing party at the same time is hardly sustainable, and African football has suffered enough from being treated as a political stepping stone to be wary of it.
The real test will come from the ballot box. The 2026 local elections will measure what remains of the ANC machine in the townships and metropolitan areas. It is on this result, more than on a poll, that the scale of the succession battle will be determined.
This article was written in French with the help of artificial intelligence from the sources cited below, then translated from French automatically. Read the original.
