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- The 52nd National Conference of the African National Congress (ANC) was held in Polokwane, Limpopo, from 16 to 20 December 2007. At the conference, Jacob Zuma and his supporters were elected to the party's top leadership and National Executive Committee (NEC), dealing a significant defeat to national President Thabo Mbeki, who had sought a third term in the ANC presidency. The conference was a precursor to the general election of 2009, which the ANC was extremely likely to win and which did indeed lead to Zuma's ascension to the presidency of South Africa. Mbeki was prohibited from serving a third term as national President but, if re-elected ANC President, could likely have leveraged that office to select his successor. Held on the Mankweng campus of the University of Limpopo, attended by 4,000 delegates, and often known simply as "Polokwane," the conference is frequently described as a watershed moment in post-apartheid South African politics. Zuma's challenge to Mbeki's incumbency resulted in the party's first contested presidential election since 1952, and it led to the first major split in the ANC since its unbanning in 1990. Although former ANC President Nelson Mandela addressed delegates with a plea for unity, the conference is thought to have heralded an era of factionalism within the ANC, and it was followed by the establishment of the Congress of the People by a pro-Mbeki splinter group. In September 2008, some months before the general election, the Polokwane-constituted NEC removed Mbeki from his position as national President, and Kgalema Motlanthe – who had been elected ANC Deputy President at Polokwane – was appointed interim President. (en)
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- The 52nd National Conference of the African National Congress (ANC) was held in Polokwane, Limpopo, from 16 to 20 December 2007. At the conference, Jacob Zuma and his supporters were elected to the party's top leadership and National Executive Committee (NEC), dealing a significant defeat to national President Thabo Mbeki, who had sought a third term in the ANC presidency. The conference was a precursor to the general election of 2009, which the ANC was extremely likely to win and which did indeed lead to Zuma's ascension to the presidency of South Africa. Mbeki was prohibited from serving a third term as national President but, if re-elected ANC President, could likely have leveraged that office to select his successor. (en)
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