{"id":51918,"date":"2026-03-07T06:18:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T06:18:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=51918"},"modified":"2026-03-07T06:18:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T06:18:18","slug":"false-unfounded-motsepe-denies-anc-presidential-ambitions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2026\/03\/07\/false-unfounded-motsepe-denies-anc-presidential-ambitions\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;False and &#8216;unfounded&#8217;, Motsepe denies ANC presidential ambitions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p><h2>\nA &#8220;PM27&#8221; website was launched, urging South Africans to support the mining mogul and CAF football president to replace President Cyril Ramaphosa as ANC leader.<br \/>\n<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Billionaire businessman Patrice Motsepe has, for the first time, publicly denied that he is campaigning for the leadership of the ANC, describing the rumours \u201cfalse and unfounded.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The ANC has been in the spotlight after intense lobbying by some in the party in favour of Motsepe running for the party Presidency at the 2027 elective conference.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-pm27\">\u2018PM27\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Recently, a \u201cPM27\u201d website was launched, urging South Africans to support the mining mogul and President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to replace President Cyril Ramaphosa as ANC leader.<\/p>\n<p>Ramaphosa is serving his last term as ANC president, and the new candidate will take over from 2027.<\/p>\n<p><strong>ALSO READ:\u00a0\u2018Ramaphosa will go down in history as one of the most useless presidents\u2019 \u2013 analyst<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-anc-nec\">ANC NEC<\/h3>\n<p>The ANC\u2019s National Executive Committee (NEC) said it is concerned that the PM27 campaign is breaking the ANC\u2019s protocol on internal elections.<\/p>\n<p>Some ANC members have been seen wearing PM27 t-shirts and regalia, but it is still unclear whether the PM on these materials stands for Motsepe or Paul Mashatile.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-denial\">Denial<\/h3>\n<p>However, addressing shareholders of his company, African Rainbow Minerals (ARM), earlier on Friday, Motsepe shut down rumours that he has ambitions for political office.<\/p>\n<p>Motsepe said he does not need to enter politics to make a contribution to South Africa, noting that his family foundation will continue supporting various political parties, including the ANC.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe best place for us to make this contribution is outside politics. I said this 20 years ago, and I said it five years ago. The minute you run for votes, you lose sight of the broader objective, the broader benefit for all South Africans.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, let me go back to my shareholders, I have a duty to answer these questions to you\u2026 I ignore these things, it\u2019s false, unfounded. The last year, I would never go and fund people to buy skippers. PM27 could also mean Post Meridian, I don\u2019t know,\u201d Motsepe said to the laughter of the attendees.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-mischievous\">\u2018Mischievous\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>With the local government elections expected to take place this year, in January 2026, ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula urged party supporters to focus on the upcoming polls, saying an early \u201cPatrice Motsepe campaign is mischievous.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mbalula said he does \u201cnot have to engage\u201d Motsepe on his ambitions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI will deal with the matter as per the mandate given to me with those who are perpetuating that, because I don\u2019t know where that comes from. If he is a member of the ANC, he will know that there is an order in the organisation right now that matters of that nature will come.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNothing would stand in the fact that if people want him to become president of the ANC for whatever reasons, and he is a member of the ANC, because anyone can stand to become anything, that moment will come,\u201d Mbalula said.<\/p>\n<p>Mbalula said there is \u201clifetime to debate\u201d over the potential candidates for the ANC presidency after the local government elections.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-mashatile\">Mashatile<\/h3>\n<p>Earlier reports claimed former President Thabo Mbeki could be roped in to take over to restore the ANC to acceptance as a last-ditch attempt to stem the party\u2019s decline, and restore its public image ahead of the 2026 local government elections.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Citizen<\/em> previously reported that some initially wanted party national chair Gwede Mantashe\u00a0for the number one spot, but he declined because he is over 70 years old.<\/p>\n<p><strong>ALSO READ:\u00a0Why even Motsepe cannot rescue a declining ANC<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<h3>Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p>Add The Citizen as a Preferred Source on Google and follow us on Google News to see more of our trusted reporting in Google News and Top Stories.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#False #unfounded #Motsepe #denies #ANC #presidential #ambitions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A &#8220;PM27&#8221; website was launched, urging South Africans to support the mining mogul and CAF football president to replace President&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51919,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mzansi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51918"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51920,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51918\/revisions\/51920"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}