Some of the ANC men who are currently leading on branch nominations can expect a nasty surprise come the December elective conference.
Only one position (deputy secretary) in the ANC top six is being contested by women, while only men have been nominated for the other five positions (president, deputy president, national chairperson, secretary-general and treasurer-general).
In terms of the ANC 50-50 gender parity guidelines, every structure of the organisation must have a 50% representation of women.
That means three positions in the top six must be filled by women.
Ramaphosa, who goes to the conference with the backing of over 70% of ANC branches, has assured the branches that gender equity will be affirmed at the party's 55th National Conference.
"The principle of gender equity cannot be undermined and I want to say to you, it will be confirmed at the conference," he said.
During the policy conference in July, Ramaphosa said no ANC structure would exist without the fair representation of women.
"Starting within the ranks of our own movement, in every structure, in every programme, and in everything that we do as the ANC, there must be parity.
"We have agreed that this is everybody's responsibility and it's not only the responsibility of women," said Ramaphosa.
Effective implementation of gender parity guidelines is expected to feature in discussions before the 5,000 delegates begin to vote for the leadership.
Besides the top six, the ANC National Executive Committee is also made up of 80 other members. Of these, no fewer than 40 have to be women.
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Buoyed by the president's support for gender equity, the ANC Women's League wants the 110-year-old party to elect its very first female deputy president.
With 2,007 nominations already, Ramaphosa is the clear favourite for the position of president, while 1,791 branches want Paul Mashatile to be elected deputy president and 1,492 branches have nominated Stanley Mathabatha for the position of national chairperson.
Former KwaZulu-Natal secretary Mdumiseni Ntuli has been nominated for the secretary-general post by 1,225 branches, Nomvula Mokonyane is the front runner for the deputy secretary-general position with 1,779 nominations and Benjamin Chauke, with 552 nominations, is leading in the battle for the position of treasurer-general.
Pictured above: ANC members of the Dullah Omar region in Cape Town meet to campaign ahead of a by-election in Ward 38
Image source: @MyANC
