SA Unrest: Talk of a coup just ‘cheap tavern gossip’, says ANC NEC member

Former ANC MP Tony Yengeni has poured cold water over President Cyril Ramaphosa’s assertion that the recent violence seen in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal was part of a failed insurrection/coup.

Yengeni, a convicted arms deal fraudster and member of the ruling party’s highest decision-making body – its national executive committee (NEC) – was responding to a tweet by Jacob G Zuma Foundation spokesperson, Mzwanele Manyi.

Yengeni said he “fully agreed” with Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and State Security Minister Ayanda Dlodlo.

Mapisa-Nqakula on Sunday contradicted Ramaphosa and told Parliament: “If it is about a coup then the coup must also have a face, but none of those so far [point] to that.” Ramaphosa, in his address on Friday, had described the incidences of looting and destruction in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal as a “well-planned attack on our Constitution” and a failed insurrection. 

“Talk about a coup and insurrection is not based on any reliable intelligence information. No coup or insurrection plotter worth his salt will waist [sic] his time and energy vandalising a shopping mall. It’s just cheap tarven [sic] gossip,” Yengeni, who is also a member of the party’s national working committee (NWC), said on Twitter.

This is not the first time that Yengeni, who is a staunch supporter of imprisoned former president Jacob Zuma, has come out in opposition to Ramaphosa.

Last year, Yengeni – who is thought to be part of the radical economic transformation (RET) faction of the ANC, told Ramaphosa to lead by example and resign. This was in relation to the ANC’s step-aside resolution and Ramaphosa allegedly buying votes at the Nasrec elective conference in 2017, to become party president.

Yengeni has also previously said that the step-aside rules were targeting suspended ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule unfairly. Magashule, also a Zuma supporter, is also thought to be of the RET faction.

“Discipline must not have eyes, discipline must apply to all equally. Some of these disciplinary measures have eyes, they target certain people,” he said in April during on eNCA’s Power to Truth with JJ Tabane.