Lie-sufi dreams are bad for the GNU

Panyaza Lesufi is Lie-sufi when he asserts there are no factions in the ANC.

But the anti-GNU (government of national unity) Gauteng premier is playing a long game.

The Tshwane mayorship and the 2026 local government elections are mere steppingstones to the 2027 ANC elective conference.

Lesufi’s faction wants to depose President Cyril Ramaphosa by 2027 at the latest.

No ANC president has served two full terms as South African president. In July, Lesufi defied pro-GNU leaders in the ANC by refusing to give the DA any meaningful role in his provincial Cabinet.

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He also publicly gave a PW Botha-like finger-waving instruction to Ramaphosa to sign the Basic Education Law Amendment Bill.

Last week he brushed off a request to withdraw a no-confidence motion against Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink. Emboldened, he is attacking Ramaphosa’s GNU partners.

Lesufi’s ego is in full bloom. ANC unity is a myth, contrary to Lesufi’s post on X: “The ANC is one. There’s no provincial ANC nor local ANC, we are one ANC …”

The truth is different, even if bewildering in its complexity. Some convolutions were evident in a Sunday Times story: “ANC battle looms over Tshwane mayoralty”.

Although Herman Mashaba declared that ActionSA were assured their candidate would become mayor, the ANC Gauteng provincial leadership are considering their own nominee.

ActionSA could become collateral damage. Shem.

According to the report, “there are those in the provincial leadership who are not keen on the ANC” taking the mayorship.

So even Lesufi’s provincial clique is not united.

There is also a “faction in the Gauteng provincial executive that wants to impose Kgosi Maepa, special advisor in the office of Gauteng premier … as mayor”.

Further down the ladder is the ANC’s Tshwane region, which believes its chair should be mayor.

The region wants to take this battle to the party’s national officials.

At ANC national level, the stalking-horse for the anti-GNU faction is Paul Mashatile, deputy president of the party and country.

Prof William Gumede of the Wits school of governance says Mashatile “has gone strategically silent, not visibly attacking the GNU or Ramaphosa.

He appears to be biding his time, ensuring he is ready to step up if the GNU falters”.

ALSO READ: Tshwane: Ousting of mayor can become trend in other metros – experts

While Mashatile is laying low, Lesufi is putting his hand up to lead the anti-GNU ANC faction, winning applause from others with radical economic transformation (RET) inclinations.

City Press says a majority of the members at a recent meeting of the ANC’s national working committee demanded the Gauteng provincial executive committee be recalled.

That decision rests with the party’s national executive committee (NEC), which is scheduled to meet early this month.

At the time of writing, the item was not on the agenda.

The NEC is where factional strengths will be tested. Much is at stake, including the economic benefits and the wave of optimism stemming from perceived GNU successes.

The DA-inspired “Moonshot Pact” – which became a multi-party charter – aimed to keep RETs such as the EFF and MK out of government.

Skill from ANC and DA leaders is required to hold that line.

If Lesufi wins, RET rises and GNU collapses along with the rand and all that entails.

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