Tough tests for ANC, Cyril

The ANC is facing the biggest test since its unbanning in 1990: to prove to all and sundry it is not a bunch of corrupt individuals who call themselves “leaders”. The test is in the next few days when the party’s national executive committee (NEC) sits to consider, among others, the matter of former eThekwini mayor, Zandile Gumede.

The NEC’s pronouncement on her fate will prove once and for all whether the accusations that the ANC encourages corruption within its ranks are true or not.

This is the turning point for President Cyril Ramaphosa as party leader, too, as he has to fight a wave of criticism and plots within and the public perception that he is not doing anything about graft. He is caught in a quandary, besieged by those behind the corruption engulfing our country and citizens who want to know why graft is running amok.

His ANC enemies are baying for his blood and they are going for the jugular this time. In my view, the Gumede issue will be used as a decoy to strengthen the plot.

In the midst of all this, enter Andile Lungisa, a former ANC Youth League deputy president who, in a rage, smashed a coffee mug on the face of a fellow councillor in Nelson Mandela Bay metro.

The outspoken political analyst, Xolani Dube, would say Lungisa’s letter to the ANC is linked to the tabling of the Gumede matter to the NEC. He said Ace Magashule’s strongly worded missive to the party faithful that those implicated in corruption must step aside was actually aimed at Ramaphosa and his 2019 campaign.

The real purpose was to get at Number One, who has to fall. It makes sense when you read the contents of Lungisa’s letter, the timing of which coincides with the NEC sitting this weekend. The letter is intended to gatecrash the NEC agenda, but whether it will succeed remains to be seen.

Considering these development, it is easy to predict Gumede’s appointment as chair of the KwaZulu-Natal legislature’s portfolio committee on local government and traditional affairs – and even her elevation to an MPL – will be nullified.

Having been exposed regarding corruption, the NEC will try to prove it will not tolerate graft – the Damascene way. But what is clear is that the Gumede outcome will help to determine how Ramaphosa can be nailed. Of course, the success or failure of this plot will depend on the force of Ramaphosa’s NEC backers against it.

Whatever the outcome, one thing is for certain, as Dube has said, the knives are out for Ramaphosa. The question, then, is how will Lungisa and the Jacob Zuma-Magashule camp justify targeting Ramaphosa’s campaign while ignoring those of other ANC presidential candidates? Was the CR campaign targeted because it raised more funds, or is it a fightback to regain power? We have to ask why Ramaphosa insists his campaign bank statements remain concealed? It raises suspicion there is something to hide. That’s where his case is weak and it’s his ANC “enemies” ammunition to remove him.

Dube would say Jacob Zuma would never forgive someone who has offended him and that Nkandla’s paw is all over this. If Ramaphosa is to survive this, he needs to emulate the power of his buffalo because the lions are charging.

Eric Naki

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