Green shoots of hope from Nasrec

While many believe that, no matter who was elected to the top seven of the ANC, it was the same old, rotten wine in new bottles; we believe there are some green shoots of political hope which emerged at the Nasrec conference.

Cyril Ramaphosa, on course to be re-elected as party president, suddenly had to deal with his supposed allies flip-flopping, stabbing him in the back and declaring their support for his opponent, Zweli Mkhize.

VIDEO: ‘Our unity was tested,’ says Ramaphosa as ANC conference adjourns

Those doing the flip-flopping were ANC top cadres, including provincial executive committee brass from Limpopo, North West and Gauteng. And, they continued to do what the arrogant ANC political royalty has done before – they tried to hijack the mandate their branches had given to conference delegates.

But, the political wind has changed and the branch delegates refused to take those orders… giving Ramaphosa a bigger victory than he had in 2017.

Not only that, but the martinets who tried to subvert democracy – like Limpopo’s chair Stan Mathabatha and his deputy Florence Radzilani – now face the wrath of their people and will probably be removed in short order.

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The ANC as a whole needs to learn from this: The voice of the people is ignored at your peril.