Ramaphosa ‘weakened’ politically without Mthembu at his side – analyst

With Cyril Ramaphosa’s front man, Jackson Mthembu, no more, political analysts say the the president will be weakened politically.

By his own admission at Mthembu’s funeral, Ramaphosa said he has lost not just a dependable colleague and comrade, but also a friend.

Mthembu died on Thursday after a short illness due to complications arising from contracting the Covid-19 virus.

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Mthembu was Ramaphosa’s leading campaigner towards the party Nasrec elective conference in late 2017. While all other campaign team members – like ANC economic development subcommittee chair Enoch Godongwana, ANC MP Dr Mathole Motshekga, Pravin Gordhan and others – worked behind the scenes in the task, Mthembu was very vocal.

Political commentator Ndzipo Kalipa said with Mthembu dead, the reactionary forces would regroup against Ramaphosa because they knew he would no longer have a defender.

“This is what happened to Thabo Mbeki when Steve [Tshwete] died. They all closed ranks against him after Tshwete passed on. He was strong and they feared him, but when he died they came back because they knew he was the force that was fighting for Mbeki,” said Kalipa.

“Mthembu was a great comrade. I worked with him in the East Rand when he was deputy regional secretary of the United Democratic Front in the PWV. Few people were like him.

“I was Mbeki’s campaigner. We knew that when Tshwete left Mbeki wouldn’t finish his term. It is easy for these reactionary to regroup against the progressive forces of our movement,” he said.

“Cyril will be weakened. This is the first step. He needs to rethink thoroughly who he appoints to replace Mthembu. He was very powerful in government because of Jackson,” Kalipa said.

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However, political analyst Zamikhaya Maseti believes the ANC factional battles have died down
post-Nasrec. He said this was due to the fact that many ANC senior members were pre-occupied with the implementation of the electoral mandate from Nasrec.

“What we see now is the ANC government with all the minister’s rallying behind the president to fight the Covid pandemic,” he said.

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