Will ANC grow a political backbone over the NEC weekend?

Could it be that, finally, the ANC leadership has grown a political backbone and is preparing to do what it should have done much earlier … ask Ace Magashule to step aside because of charges pending against him?

The national executive committee (NEC) is said to be readying itself to tell its secretary-general to move aside … and that could happen as soon as this weekend.

If the NEC goes ahead and orders Magashule to comply with the resolution of the 2017 Nasrec conference – which compels ANC leaders accused of wrongdoing to step aside pending completion of investigations – then it will be a clear sign that the faction within the ANC loyal to President Cyril Ramaphosa is able to throw down the gauntlet to Magashule and the clique around him which supports former president Jacob Zuma.

The Zuma-ites, now becoming known as the RET (radical economic transformation) camp within the party, have been becoming bolder in their challenges to Ramaphosa as they fight not only for their own positions, but also to avoid the consequences of their involvement in state capture.

In the process, it has become clear they are also fighting for the heart and soul of the ANC itself.

While an NEC order to Magashule to comply will attract howls of rage from the RET camp, the reality – as we have all come to know too well in the past few years – is that, when it comes to justice being meted out to anyone in the ANC leadership, then the wheels grind exceedingly slowly.

However, with Magashule ousted (albeit temporarily) from his position controlling some levers of power at Luthuli House, Ramaphosa and his allies will have more freedom to continue their campaign against corruption and looting.

If he remains, though, the future looks grim because ANC politics will have triumphed over justice once again .

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