Recalled as premier of Western Cape in 2008 and jetted off to the U.S. as South Africa's ambassador, long-time ANC man Ebrahim Rasool will now head the party's election campaign into DA territory.
On Monday, ANC elections chairperson Fikile Mbalula announced that Rasool would lead the party's election campaign in Western Cape, its sights now set on reclaiming lost ground in Cape Town and other key areas.
Rasool may be an experienced politician, but there are clouds hanging over his head.
In 2001, the ANC in Western Cape under Rasool's leadership, ran a controversial advert in the Cape Argus, calling coloureds who supported the DA "coconuts".
In 2005, allegations began surfacing that Rasool had paid off political reporters at the Cape Argus – the "brown-envelope journalism scandal" – to write positive news stories about him, and undermine his political rivals.
One of those journalists reportedly testified to this effect in an affidavit, but the issue was not resolved, and the full report of a commission of inquiry into the matter was never released.
Before the matter was finalised, Rasool was shifted off to Washington, D.C., as South Africa's ambassador to the U.S. – a post which he held for a number of years.
Rasool considers himself collateral damage in the ousting of former president Thabo Mbeki at the ANC's 2007 conference in Polokwane. On Monday, he told the Mail&Guardian: "I was the dress rehearsal for Thabo Mbeki's removal."
In 2014, the Mail&Guardian reported that through Rasool's influence, South Africa's trade with the U.S. surpassed the high-water mark achieved before the 2008 global economic crisis; more than 600 U.S. companies have invested in South Africa, employing in excess of 150,000 people, and 330,000 U.S. citizens travelled to South Africa in 2013, contributing dollars to the tourism economy.
The party will be pinning its hopes on Rasool to win back support in the province.