File | AFP
What you need to know:
The long-running power-play between rival factions in South Africa’s
ruling African National Congress (ANC) party have come to a head, with a
decisive victory for President Cyril Ramaphosa and his allies over the
weakening forces of former president Jacob Zuma.
Ramaphosa addressed South Africans after an intensive weekend conference of the party’s executive committee late Monday in which he ‘drew a line in the sand’ regarding corruption in the ranks of the ruling party.
He said that accused comrades, regardless of whom, had to stand down
once charged with a crime or if under strong suspicion of such.
Already ANC MP Bongani Bongo, once a member of Mugabe’s cabinet and a
key player in the pro-Zuma faction in the ruling party, has been told
to vacate his parliamentary seat.
He’s only one of several ANC members who have been asked to step aside while they clear their names. The duelling factions in the ruling party, divided along personality lines but also on fundamental principle, have been at each other’s throats since Ramaphosa ‘unexpectedly’ won the ANC’s top job in December 2017.
Pro-Zuma elements have been trying to undermine and weaken Ramaphosa’s political support from the outset but were dealt a serious blow as the factional power struggle came to a head at the executive committee gathering.
Ramaphosa emerged from the showdown meeting of the ANC’s top decision-making body much stronger than he entered it, having won the 86-member body to his side, fully backing his position on firmly dealing with corruption once and for all in his organisation.
The matter was forced by two letters, the first an open address from
Ramaphosa to his party members – and thereby all South Africans – last
weekend to the effect that corruption was destroying South Africa and,
as had become evident during the Covid pandemic, was threatening his
party, the oldest ‘liberation movement’ in Africa.
Zuma late in the week and in an apparent desperate bid to hold off Ramaphosa’s growing grip on the party, wrote his own letter in which he accused the president, in turn, of trying to destroy the ANC with his ‘clean-up campaign’.
In a deft move to head off criticism, Ramaphosa said he would put himself before the party’s integrity commission, comprised of long-time stalwarts of the party with proven records in public service and to the ruling party.
He would answers questions arising from private sector funding of his bid in 2017 to win his current position – some of it from a company known to have been heavily engaged in state capture – but had nothing to hide, he said.
He would, at the same time, discuss ways to, in effect, give the integrity commission what some described as ‘teeth’ to give effect to any decisions it might make going forward about “comrades who have lost their way and stumbled on the path”, as Ramaphosa put it.
In standing forth as the ANC’s face on this issue – and effectively
pushing aside the party secretary-general Ace Magashule, Zuma’s most
powerful ally within the party – Ramaphosa was making another point: he
is the face of the party, not Magashule who, through Covid personal
protection equipment tenders won by two of his sons in questionable
circumstances, has his own corruption problems to deal with.
Since coming to power in 1994, many ANC leaders or their family members have benefitted from state tenders and contracts.
This practice had become entrenched and was the launching pad for Zuma’s state capture.
Ramaphosa made it clear to all South Africans: those days are over.
Ramaphosa addressed South Africans after an intensive weekend conference of the party’s executive committee late Monday in which he ‘drew a line in the sand’ regarding corruption in the ranks of the ruling party.
Factional power
It was clear that this was not just another ‘nice-sounding’ political statement, as Ramaphosa has been accused by some to have uttered previously regarding systemic corruption in South Africa.He’s only one of several ANC members who have been asked to step aside while they clear their names. The duelling factions in the ruling party, divided along personality lines but also on fundamental principle, have been at each other’s throats since Ramaphosa ‘unexpectedly’ won the ANC’s top job in December 2017.
Pro-Zuma elements have been trying to undermine and weaken Ramaphosa’s political support from the outset but were dealt a serious blow as the factional power struggle came to a head at the executive committee gathering.
Ramaphosa emerged from the showdown meeting of the ANC’s top decision-making body much stronger than he entered it, having won the 86-member body to his side, fully backing his position on firmly dealing with corruption once and for all in his organisation.
Zuma late in the week and in an apparent desperate bid to hold off Ramaphosa’s growing grip on the party, wrote his own letter in which he accused the president, in turn, of trying to destroy the ANC with his ‘clean-up campaign’.
In a deft move to head off criticism, Ramaphosa said he would put himself before the party’s integrity commission, comprised of long-time stalwarts of the party with proven records in public service and to the ruling party.
He would answers questions arising from private sector funding of his bid in 2017 to win his current position – some of it from a company known to have been heavily engaged in state capture – but had nothing to hide, he said.
He would, at the same time, discuss ways to, in effect, give the integrity commission what some described as ‘teeth’ to give effect to any decisions it might make going forward about “comrades who have lost their way and stumbled on the path”, as Ramaphosa put it.
Delineate business
Ramaphosa promised that there would be a comprehensive policy put in place to clearly delineating what business those in the party, especially in leadership positions, could do with the state, including close family members of such people.Since coming to power in 1994, many ANC leaders or their family members have benefitted from state tenders and contracts.
This practice had become entrenched and was the launching pad for Zuma’s state capture.
Ramaphosa made it clear to all South Africans: those days are over.
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