Bitter ANC battle on the cards

It was a watershed moment in the history of the organisation because there appeared – in the form of Cyril Ramaphosa – a serious challenger to Jacob Zuma as party head and president of the country. And it was Zuma who was perceived by many to symbolise exactly how the ANC had lost its way into a morass of corruption.

Under him, the state had been captured by the Guptas and their henchmen… and their influence was visible at Nasrec. Three years is a long time in politics and, to borrow from Mark Twain, reports of the imminent political death of Zuma and his allies in the radical economic transformation (RET) clique were greatly exaggerated.

Even as the Covid-19 crisis started easing and apparent unity was less essential, RET figureheads like Carl Niehaus were suggesting that Ramaphosa be removed at the ANC’s national general council (NGC). That meeting has been postponed several times due to Covid-19 and a date has not yet been set – but it is shaping up to be every bit as decisive as was Nasrec.

The NGC will be make-or-break for the RET campaigners. If they don’t oust Ramaphosa, they will themselves be cast into the dustbin of political history. That is clearly why they – and specifically their luminary, ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule – are gearing up for a fight.

Magashule is threatened on a personal level as Ramaphosa’s promised anticorruption campaign builds a head of steam and the arrests get ever closer to the former Free State premier, who has been linked with state capture. preThere is a lot at stake – places on the gravy train – so expect a bitter battle.

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