By Zukile Majova
Political Editor
Since Cyril Ramaphosa removed Jacob Zuma from office without letting him finish his term, Msholozi has been determined to cut him down to size.
It has taken over five years. But this week, the nation is watching the results of Zuma’s exploitation of ANC structures in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga to stage the ANC’s biggest defeat in a national election.
The Umkhonto Wesizwe party, effectively an ANC faction forced out of the party, is back to haunt the political giant.
At first, Zuma thought he could implode “the ANC of Ramaphosa” with his Radical Economic Transformation faction.
They tried for five years but failed and were ultimately defeated at the ANC’s last elective conference.
The breakaway faction’s next strategy was to demonstrate how much damage it could inflict on the ANC and its divided structures.
The ANC had never seen a practical display of what happens when an angry faction implodes the party by turning its structures against it.
In the past, ANC dissidents – members of Cope and the EFF – walked away from the party to establish new structures and new identities.
Zuma’s strategy, however, was different.
He decided not to form structures but to exploit the existing ANC structures and network to paralyse the party, especially in KZN.
Msholozi knew that there was a disgruntled leader in every ANC branch who had failed to become the chairperson of a branch or councillor of a ward.
But such a member remains influential enough to implode the branch or influence 40% of its members.
It’s the same story in the regional executive committees and the national executive committee, which is still 40% anti-Ramaphosa.
This was most evident at the ANC’s last conference, where Zweli Mkhize walked away with over 40% of the conference votes despite allegations of corruption against him.
Such is the level of unhappiness in the ANC about Ramaphosa’s plan for the party’s rebirth and the exclusion of corrupt leaders from its structures and government.
Zuma knows of many branch and regional leaders in KZN, Mpumalanga, and the Free State who are threatened with future fraud and corruption prosecutions.
They rally behind Zuma because he has been fighting such threats for two decades.
For the “ANC of Ramaphosa,” the options are simple: eliminate the remnants of RET forces and rebuild the ANC.
This has been former president Thabo Mbeki’s message for years.
Pictured above: Who will call checkmate first in the Zuma vs Ramaphosa battle?
Source: X
