Dali Mpofu buys Mzwanele Manyi lunch after losing Zuma bet

Former government spokesperson and staunch President Jacob Zuma supporter Mzwanele “Jimmy” Manyi was treated to lunch courtesy of EFF national chairperson Advocate Dali Mpofu on Women’s Day.

The two appear to have entered a friendly wager that Zuma would be voted out in the no-confidence vote that took place by secret ballot the previous day.

Although the vote was closer than many may have expected, Mpofu still lost and duly paid his dues.

Manyi posted a photo of the two of them smiling together in their party colours at a restaurant on Wednesday afternoon.

Mpofu, for his part, still managed to get in a bit of a jibe at his “frenemy”, by responding: “Sorry I arrived a bit late…I was sure we were meeting at Saxonwold Shebeen… Congrats…but brace yourself for the next round!”

The joke was a clear reference to the fact that Manyi has allegedly received funding from the Gupta family.

The two men are known for sparring with each other on Twitter, often debating major political issues. Mpofu, like many EFF leaders, used to support the ANC.

EFF leader Julius Malema said after the vote that they still had reason to celebrate, even though his confident prediction that there were enough anti-Zuma MPs in the ANC to carry the motion came a cropper.

“We got 35 votes from the ANC – 26 direct, nine abstaining. Why not celebrate? Seven motions were presented before … we never got a single vote from the ANC.

“Now, today, we got people on the other side, confirming they were scared to vote with us … secret ballot was necessary.”

“It was a close contest … 198 … 177 … it has never happened.”

He vowed that the next time Zuma came to parliament he would be taught a lesson.

“This is not his spaza shop like the one in Nkandla,” he said, vowing that he would personally remind the president that many of his own MPs no longer liked him.

This aside, Manyi has been enjoying rubbing people’s faces in the fact that Zuma is going nowhere, having tweeted this joke earlier.