According to reports coming out of North West, a clandestine party in support of former ANC president Jacob Zuma has kept up appearances of allegiance to the ANC while solidifying support for a breakaway party behind the scenes.
The Sunday Times reports that the nephew of National Council of Provinces chairperson Thandi Modise claimed this past week that he had been a target of a secret recruitment drive in North West, allegedly led by former premier Supra Mahumapelo.
The nephew, Neo Moepi, said the person recruiting him bluntly told him the ANC was all but dead, a death he was told was happening at the hands of ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa.
A member of the provincial legislature told the Times it was not Mahumapelo himself who had approached Moepi, but rather one of the many ANC officials in the province biding time while allegedly orchestrating an elaborate sabotage of the national ANC leadership in the lead up to the 2019 national elections.
News of a new breakaway party, called the African Transformation Congress (ATC), have been slowly coming to the surface, especially in Mahumapelo’s province, where he is said to be leading the exodus.
Mahumapelo resigned as North West premier in May following widespread violent protests in the province to oust him. He still remains the North West chairperson of the party.
NW ANC Youth League secretary Sipho Dial and the province’s elections head, Oupa Matla, confirmed there were suspicions that members of the provincial executive committee were working to sabotage the party in North West, the Sunday paper reports.
The ATC is said to have been founded by one of Zuma’s supporters, Bishop Caesar Nongqunga, as well as other religious leaders, who have been seen supporting the former president in court during one of his appearances on charges of corruption, fraud and money laundering.
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