Ndlozi goes flip-flop: Is Ramaphosa’s critic ANC’s new recruit?

In an unexpected twist on Monday, EFF member Dr Mbuyiseni Ndlozi spoke out in support of President Cyril Ramaphosa, calling him “the most committed” head of state.

Ndlozi praised Ramaphosa in a post on X, saying the president was not the person many assumed him to be.

According to Ndlozi, “Of all SA heads of state, he has come out as the most committed to policies that matter for the most genuine transformation of the living conditions of our people.”

Ndlozi’s recent remarks are in stark contrast with previous instances where he and the EFF have many times bashed Ramaphosa, said Professor Theo Neethling, a political analyst from the University of the Free State.

“Ndlozi and his party have accused the president of pushing the capitalist agenda and neglecting what the freedom fighters fought for during the apartheid regime.

“Now, suddenly, he believes Ramaphosa is not what many people thought he was, adding that no puppet of white monopoly capitalism can speak as Ramaphosa does,” Neethling said.

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Ndlozi might be playing political chameleon

Neethling noted that in July 2024, Ndlozi said in a plenary of the National Assembly that Ramaphosa is suffering from psychosis, with the symptoms of “illusions and delusions”. Ndlozi added that a fictional writer knows that he is writing fiction, but that Ramaphosa “truly believed in the delusions he gives us“.

In December 2024, Ndlozi lectured Ramaphosa, highlighting the suffering of the mineworkers in the Marikana massacre.

“This surprising U-turn begs the question of whether Ndlozi is joining the ANC or looking for a new political home,” Neethling said. “If so, he is playing the game of a political chameleon as his political life in the EFF has come to an end.”

However, Neethling said that EFF leader Julius Malema in 2008 said: “We are prepared to die for [former president Jacob] Zuma”.

Nevertheless, Malema recently urged his supporters to confront Zuma’s MK party to confront “our biggest enemy” head-on.

Ramaphosa’s basher now his backer

“I find it interesting that the EFF had advocated for the implementation of the [Basic Education Laws Amendment] Bela Act, but opposed to the signing of the Land Expropriation Act, citing its failure to provide a radical departure from the past,” Neetling said.

He added that the EFF also expressed strong opposition to the National Health Insurance (NHI), describing its passage as a “catastrophic development” amid the ongoing collapse of the public health sector. Yet, Nldozi praised Ramaphosa’s leadership in implementing policies that benefit South Africans on Monday.

“Thus, I won’t be surprised if an announcement is made that Ndlozi has joined the ANC,” Neethling concluded. “This won’t weaken the EFF. The party is already weakened by recent turbulence and the departure of the former deputy president, Floyd Shivambu, and other former leaders to the MK party.”

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