Former president Jacob Zuma’s faction is not about to lose their last ‘powerhouse’ in ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule and fighting for him to stay in office is what they will do.
With Magashule, their last hope, first put in a tight corner and then out in the cold after he was sidelined by his ANC top brass fellows, the Radical Economic Transformation (RET) camp is rearing for war.
They will do anything – including going to court to challenge his suspension and the step aside rule.
They promised to make a “big noise” to demand an elective special national conference. The whole saga has prompted fears of an imminent split in the governing party.
ALSO READ: Double blow for Zuma faction as Ace, Supra face wilderness
Experts believe the conditions were ripe now than ever before for the governing party to rupture.
In one of several leaks of the ANC national executive committee (NEC) meeting discussions this weekend, former President Thabo Mbeki, spoke of a possible split in the party.
Mbeki knew better because he was ousted under similar circumstances after the Polokwane conference which resulted in some prominent ANC members establishing the Congress of the People (Cope) in late 2008.
Mbeki : Chair do we still have the ANC, do w still have the movement #ANCNEC pic.twitter.com/a4KGVmuJta
— Marxist (@Kgomo389) May 8, 2021
As a fightback in what they see as an attempt to pull the carpet from under their feet, the RET members threatened to challenge what they call “selective” implementation of the step aside rule by the national executive committee (NEC) in a court of law.
They raised voices to call for the convening of a special conference where new leaders would be elected – which meant the ANC must start afresh by dissolving and electing a new leadership, 18 months before the next conference in 2022.
This demand is unlikely to be acceded to unless as ANC constitution provided that a two-thirds majority of branches should support such a proposal, which is impossible under the circumstances.
The special conference organised in this fashion was unprecedented in the party’s almost 110 years of existence.
READ MORE: Is there any way for Cyril and Ace to save this toxic relationship?
Besides, it came at a time when President Cyril Ramaphosa’s grip on power was gradually strengthening in the party and the state.
Magashule himself at the weekend conceded that the Ramaphosa camp was dominant in the NEC and that Ramaphosa was now fully in control of the party.
With Zuma out of the way and with no state resources at their disposal to rely on, the Zuma and Magashule camp had weakened since Nasrec 2017.
They have to hold onto the little power they have even if it means destroying the party because of an individual.
Magashule’s powerful position as the ANC secretary-general made him the last hope for the faction to have a semblance of control of the ANC.
They had to fight to the bitter end to keep him in the post hence the current noise to rally around him.
Some of them even spoke of collapsing the current NEC meeting by walking out leaving the Ramaphosa side alone so that they were unable to proceed.
ALSO READ: ANC will be the biggest loser from its internal leaks, says analyst
Indeed that could force a compromise and even the convening of a special conference.
The synchronised call for the elective special conference appeared to have been rehearsed and planned the RET members.
Those associated with the RET claimed the ‘step aside’ rule was applied selectively because it targeted Magashule and ANC MP, Bongani Bongo.
RET faction member, Olly Mlamleli, who is former Mangaung mayor and who was MEC for co-operative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) in the Free State under Magashule, led the call for the ANC’s step aside rule to be challenged in court.
In a leaked audio recording, Mlamleli spoke at length during an RET group strategising meeting attacking Ramaphosa and lambasting the NEC for Magashule’s suspension.
She highlighted the need to approach the court to challenge the step aside decision.
“Let’s fight and make a lot of noise for a special conference and we take this action to court. Let’s take action, let’s interdict the discussion of step aside.
“Let’s take court action because the longer comrade Ace is outside that meeting, administration is going to be in tatters and highly manipulated. That’s’ exactly what is needed,” she said.
LISTEN: Ramaphosa to Zuma: ‘You believe that I’m deceitful and not to be trusted’
Mlamleli became the second RET member in one weekend to call for a special ANC conference after NEC member, Dakota Legoete, whose address at the NEC was leaked to the media in which he demanded the invocation of Rule 29 of the ANC constitution for special conference.
Mlamleli put her hopes on the power of ANC branches to fight the battle against step aside and Magashule’s suspension.
She said for this to happen branches must be informed because ‘amandla asemasebeni’ (power is in the ANC branches) to fight the step aside resolution.
“Branches are quiet, branches need to be led comrade – we need to lead branches. Everybody in the street need to know exactly what the resolution says. Their timing is very wrong because of elections,” Mlamleli said.
There was a need for a special conference in addition to the ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) call for a national general council.
But Ramaphosa’s supporters within the NEC had been standing up in his defence and the defence of the NEC decision.
For the second time in the last few months, “Ramaphosaites” have raised the tempo against the RETs.
Northern Cape ANC chairperson, Dr Zamani Saul, was uncompromising about the need to implement “step aside”.
READ MORE: ANC vs ANC – Busy start to special NEC meeting
He told the Northern Cape’s Pixley kaSeme regional conference that step aside was fundamental to the ANC renewal agenda.
“So an attack on the step aside is a direct attack on renewal, an attack on the renewal is a direct attack on radical socio-economic transformation because a corrupt and unethical ANC cannot midwife and bring about radical socio-economic transformation. So without renewal, radical socio-economic transformation is a still-born,” Saul said.
The Northern Cape along with the Eastern Cape, had taken a strong stance against corruption in the ANC.
Eastern Cape ANC provincial chair, Oscar Mabuyane fired his health MEC Sindiswa Gomba over corruption pertaining to the late Nelson Mandela’s memorial service at Buffalo City Municipality, where Gomba was a councillor before she was appointed as MEC.
Saul told delegates at regional conference that this weekend’s NEC would be recorded in history as the watershed moment in the fight for renewal of the ANC.
Saul encouraged the regional conference to craft a clear resolution in support of the step aside Nasrec resolution.
ALSO READ: ‘ANC has never protected me’ – Zuma lifts lid on top six meeting
Wit the eThekwini ANC branch where Zandile Gumede was a member and Supra Mahumapelo’s Mahikeng ANC branch in the North West had called for Magashule to be reinstated.
Both Gumede and Mahumapelo were expected to step aside due to their malfeasance.
Continuing her attack of the NEC step aside decision, Mlamleli said during the ANCWL’s national executive committee meeting, 20 were against Magashule stepping aside.
She said the 20 demanded that the ANC conference resolution be implemented as is without being modified”. “I just wanted to clarify those numbers,” she told the meeting.
Mlamleli, who had been charged along with Magashule, several Free State provincial government officials and business people, lashed out at Ramaphosa for communicating directly to branches and the public about NEC decisions including the step aside policy instead of leaving the task to Magashule.
“People are in a hurry, people are in a hurry,” she said as she lambasted Ramaphosa’s closing remarks after NEC meetings as an attempt to sideline Magashule.
READ MORE: ‘NEC rushing to implement step aside guidelines that are lacking
She accused the ANC integrity commission of taking decisions without a meeting quorum and simply making announcements without having sat in quorating meeting.
“People are charged selectively,” she said.
She claimed Magashule was given 30 days to consult but others were not.
“What about others, are we also not given 30 days to go and consult amadlozi (ancestors) and abo-gogo bami (my elders), my uncles and nephews but only one person is told to go consult,” Mlamleli said.
She suggested that the meeting must talk with proposals “so that the leadership must know what to do”.
ericn@citizen.co.za