Standard Bank flags Mashatile’s ‘stealthy’ bid for ANC presidency

Standard Bank has flagged a “stealthy” run at the ANC presidency by treasurer general Paul Mashatile, who it believes may be able to benefit from the scandals faced by incumbent Cyril Ramaphosa and challenger Zweli Mkhize.

The bank’s political economy analysts also say Mashatile has positioned himself as the perfect “compromise candidate” for president should either Ramaphosa or Mkhize  be barred from standing over any fallout from the ANC’s integrity commission (IC) over the Phala Phala and Digital Vibes matters.

The prediction was made this week in a Weekly Talking Point, a briefing to select corporate and institutional clients by Standard Bank’s research department that is not meant to be distributed to the media.

In it, Standard Bank Research political economic analyst Simon Freemantle said Mashatile had also recently been marketing himself to the business community and elsewhere as a “more decisive” leader than Ramaphosa.