By Siyabonga Hadebe
Johannesburg – One weekend newspaper carried a grossly misleading article that claimed battle lines were drawn between ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa and the governing party’s secretary- general Ace Magashule.
As far as the story goes, some in the organisation want Magashule “to step aside” following corruption charges.
This simply goes to show how the media, opposition parties and analysts do not understand what is happening in the governing party.
The ANC is united in purpose, and that purpose is to retain political power as long as it is possible.
The ANC neither has intentions to split nor sack any of its leaders. The best way to describe the ANC is the survival strategies of buffaloes in the wild.
Also read: ANC’s integrity committee tells Ace Magashule to step aside as secretary-general
Many who subscribe to the factionalism school will find it hard to understand that a seemingly disorganised organisation such as the ANC is actually not as reckless as many people would like to believe.
Thus, there is actually nothing much to read from the much-publicised squabbles involving the so-called opposing factions. The ruling party’s squabbles have existed for over a decade since former president Thabo Mbeki’s time, and reached what many thought was a moment of no return under the Jacob Zuma administration.
They continue today with much vigour, but still there is absolutely nothing that will happen.
As a matter of fact, the formation of the splinter Congress of the People (Cope) after the 2008 elective conference was a nearmiss for the ANC.
The much-talked about split today will not happen any time soon. The lessons learned from the Cope experience are what keep the ANC glued together.
Many people fear what others believe to be empty scaremongering that says: “It’s cold outside of the ANC.”
The differences and haggling mean zilch in the bigger scheme of things because the ANC understands that the large majority it gets in elections is only possible if it does not split.
Zuma proved to many that it did not matter how bad one thought he was being treated by some in the organisation.
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