54th National Conference of the African National Congress
2017 political event in South Africa
The 54th National Conference of the African National Congress (ANC) took place from 16 to 20 December 2017 at the Johannesburg Expo Centre in Nasrec, Gauteng. At the conference, the ANC elected its National Executive Committee (NEC) and other top internal leaders. Often referred to as the Nasrec Conference, it was held during the centenary of the birth of former ANC President Oliver Tambo and was convened under the theme, "Remember Tambo: Towards Unity, Renewal and Radical Socioeconomic Transformation."
On 18 December 2017, Cyril Ramaphosa, who had been deputy president of the ANC since 2012 and Deputy President of South Africa since 2014, was elected president of the ANC, narrowly defeating Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. On 15 February 2018, following Jacob Zuma's resignation, the National Assembly indirectly elected Ramaphosa, unopposed, as President of South Africa. As ANC President, Ramaphosa was the party's candidate for president in the 2019 South African general election, which the ANC won with 57.50% of the vote. Indeed, because of the ANC's entrenched electoral majority at the national level, every ANC President since Nelson Mandela has been elected president. The internal elections at the conference were hotly contested at least partly for that reason.
Background
Jacob Zuma had been re-elected to a second five-year term as President of South Africa in 2014 and would be ineligible to stand for re-election in 2019. The ANC does not have internal presidential term limits, but Zuma had said as early as 2015 that he would step aside after two terms to allow the party to select a presidential candidate as his successor. In the run-up to the 54th National Conference, much of the campaigning was polarised by Zuma's controversial presidency, and especially by allegations that he had facilitated widespread state capture.
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The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q42529463. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2017, 2012, 2014 and 2018.
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