Dlamini-Zuma is the rising star in Ramaphosa’s party – analysts

Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is not, as many people want to believe, dancing to the political tune of her former husband, ex-president Jacob Zuma.

If anything, she is gravitating towards President Cyril Ramaphosa as he uses her to spearhead the campaign against the coronavirus.

If the Jacob Zuma group – which punted her as their candidate for ANC leadership at the 2017 Nasrec conference – ever had any hold on her, they are wasting their time thinking they can get her to do their bidding, say political experts.

This is because she is not made in their mould but simply wants to ensure that the job she has been given is done well, say political experts.

The analysts, who concurred that the minister is more a technocrat than an ideologue, say making sure she accomplished tasks assigned to her was more important to her than factional politics.

Political analyst Professor Andre Duvenhage said he believed that of the three categories of leaders who ran the ANC and government – technocrats, ideologues and reformers – Dlamini-Zuma was definitely the former. This meant she felt right at home doing her government-mandated bureaucratic or administrative tasks.

The ideologues were represented by populists such as Ace Magashule and other Zuma supporters, while reformers were represented by Ramaphosa, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni and, to a certain extent, Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan.

“Without any doubt, she is in control of the technocrats. She has more power than other ministers because of the Covid-19 crisis,” Duvenhage said.

He was adamant that despite not being an ideologue, Dlamini-Zuma was still politically aligned to the populists within the ANC. There was a bit of conflict there because she was not doing what they would like to see her doing.

Political analyst Professor Dirk Kotze said the minister was the leading pointswoman in the country’s fight against Covid-19 and all others follow her.

This suits her because she is a technocrat, he said.

The Covid-19 issue was being managed at the level of the National Command Council at ministerial level by Dlamini-Zuma, who took care of the technical aspects including coordination of the lockdown regulations. The outcome of her leading role was that her status has automatically been elevated.

“The populists behind her are just trying their best to be relevant. Ace Magashule and the ANC have been sidelined by this coronavirus crisis, They have no role and they feel marginalised.

“Everything is in the hands of the government. This gives Ramaphosa an advantage over his opponents within the ANC. But people don’t want these issues to be politicised. People are scared and all they want is to be safe,” Kotze said.

He said the power that Dlamini currently enjoyed is not new because it is embedded in the National Disaster Act and therefore part of her function as minister.

“She has been a loyal minister since she was appointed by Ramaphosa. She has not kept alive the spirit of her campaign as former contender against Ramaphosa at Nasrec” Kotze said.

Dr Somadoda Fikeni, an independent analyst, said the radicals within the ANC were trying to use Dlamini-Zuma as a stepping stone to power. “They are looking for reasons to ignite their dimmed political spark. They have been starved politically during the Covid-19 crisis and are looking for something to revive themselves,” Fikeni said.

Dlamini-Zuma had become the opposite of what she was intended to be by her factionist followers, he said. She was never to be what she had never been – a rabble-rouser and a power monger. Instead, she preferred to work hard behind close doors to deliver on her government tasks.

– ericn@citizen.co.za

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