ANC will continue to protect Ramaphosa, at the expense of South Africans

The ANC’s new national executive committee top seven have painted themselves on the renewal card while head of the ANC renewal project president Cyril Ramaphosa has the Phala Phala cloud hanging over his head.

During his closing speech at the ANC elective conference which, by the way, could not complete the critical tasks, Ramaphosa said: “We must show no mercy to those who steal money from the poor, no matter who they are.”

This is while he and the ANC have been doing everything to make sure he does not account for the Phala Phala scandal.

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Not long ago, we saw him dodge a bullet when parliament voted against the adoption of the Section 89 report. Unsurprisingly, we saw senior members of the party call for his head.

Three of the newly elected leaders, Gwede Mantashe, Paul Mashatile and Ramaphosa, have actually been in charge of the ANC since 2017 on the same renewal card, but the country has got worse under their watch.

Unemployment figures have gone up, power utility Eskom is subjecting people to unending power cuts, food prices are ridiculous, municipalities are crumbling and many people feel that corruption has also been on the rise since they have been at the helm.

So why should we believe them when they say this ANC will be different from the previous iterations, which were riddled with internal factional battles?

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Then there is Fikile Mbalula, the party’s new secretary-general, who has done a lot of nothing in his previous ministerial positions. This man has been trusted by ANC branches to lead them into a renewal project.

This will have opposition parties laughing all the way to the polls in 2024. Everything the man touched has turned into chaos.

It was under his watch as transport minister that the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa was brought to its knees and, maybe, he might just do all of us a favour and bring the ANC to its knees.

And we have Mantashe and Nomvula Mokonyane who, themselves, have the Bosasa debacle surrounding them. So where is the renewal here? There is none.

The election of three women into the structure is, however, a breath of fresh air and a first for the ruling party. Particularly the election of Maropene Ramokgopa, 42, who appears not to have any scandals attached to her to date.

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One thing is for sure, the coming five years will be hell on earth for the radical economic transformation (RET) faction, which did not support the president.

The likes of former president Jacob Zuma, Zweli Mkhize, Ace Magashule, Supra Mahumapelo, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Bathabile Dlamini will now know that it’s cold outside the ANC, as we can expect Mbalula to deal with them.

It’s time to watch as the RET faction of the ANC will have sleepless nights in the coming five years as their candidate, Mkhize, lost. It’s going to be the great purging years as Mbalula has committed to instilling discipline in the party.

With nothing to lose as Ramaphosa will be doing his last term as the party’s president, we just might see him take action instead of in the past, when he consulted everyone before doing anything.

Despite all the president’s shortcomings, he seems to enjoy support from big business and has been shielded by his comrades in parliament and inside his party.

But the ANC will continue to protect him as they did with Zuma on Nkandla, not at its expense, but at the expense of South Africans.