ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa has sternly cautioned ANC leaders against using the councillor candidates’ submission saga to place the political spotlight on secretary-general Fikile Mbalula or call for his removal.
During a national working committee (NWC) meeting on Monday, the Buffalo was fending off hyenas salivating over the former young lion, Mbalula.
Sunday World can reveal that Ramaphosa read the riot act to members of the NWC, instructing them to cease attacking Mbalula or face disciplinary action.
The defence comes as an anti-Mbalula NEC bloc is beginning to form.
The ANC faces the bleak prospect of being absent from the ballot in municipal strongholds of the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State after it failed to complete and submit its full candidate lists before the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s (IEC) August 28 deadline.
In Port St Johns and Ngquza Hill, where about three in four voters backed the ANC in 2021, it has no ward or PR candidates. In Mangaung, uMshwathi, Walter Sisulu and Sundays River Valley, it lost its PR lists. In all, 181 candidates are affected.
The party blamed system glitches but the IEC says the crisis is of its own making.
It lost a court bid to force the IEC to reopen the submission process and has since approached the Constitutional Court to challenge the verdict.
Mbalula has borne the brunt of the backlash, with a number of NEC members wanting him held accountable.
The offensive against the secretary-general in the NWC meeting on Monday is said to have been led by deputy minister Mondli Gungubele, who has criticised the IEC submission saga and is believed to be supported by Zizi Kodwa, Khusela Sangoni, Stella Ndabeni and chief whip Mdumiseni Ntuli.
The litigation against the IEC is said to have been the basis for the offensive, with those baying for Mbalula’s blood insisting there was no need to appeal to the apex court. The ANC nevertheless launched the appeal.
Ramaphosa is said to have stunned the meeting when he warned that any future attack on Mbalula, directly or by innuendo, would be sanctioned through a disciplinary process.
At the bruising NWC meeting, which ran from 2pm until midnight, the ANC top seven held the line, amplified by Youth League and Women’s League leaders who rallied behind the embattled secretary-general.
Other NWC members who came to Mbalula’s defence were Fébé Potgieter-Gqubule, Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi, national spokesperson Hlengiwe Bhengu, Mdu Manana, David Mahlobo and ANC head of presidency Sibongile Besani.
A third group, including Barbara Creecy and Thembi Simelane, is said to have called for calm.
Ramaphosa advised ANC leaders to desist from corridor whispers against the SG and invoked a doctrine popularised by the party’s longest serving president, OR Tambo: “Say it in front of the comrade or do not say it at all.”
“The president’s message to the leadership was blunt. He was unequivocal in his assessment that the ANC has slid back into a gossip season, with comrades plotting against one another in corridors, on phones and in private meetings rather than in the structures built for exactly that purpose,” an insider said.
Ramaphosa reportedly told the meeting that he was aware of the attacks on Mbalula and called for a ceasefire. Laying down the law, he warned that any leader who ignored the directive would face action.
“A president seldom ring-fences an individual office-bearer this plainly as the president did for Mbalula in front of the collective,” said an NWC member who is part of the anti-Mbalula grouping.
“It took us all by surprise because the message travels in two directions: to the caucus — he was telling us that Mbalula is not isolated — and to the wider NEC. He was clear that the next person caught running a whispering campaign has been warned in advance.
“But talk is cheap. We want to see if he was just making empty threats or he meant it. The test now is enforcement — the first disciplinary step will show whether the directive has teeth.”
Sources close to Ramaphosa told Sunday World that what triggered his spirited defence of Mbalula was a belief that the offensive was ultimately directed at him.
Ramaphosa is said to be aware that inside the party, Mbalula is seen as standing between the president and the Section 89 impeachment process in Parliament concerning the theft of dollars at Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm.
“The chief has come to learn that the two issues driving everything that is happening are Parliament’s impeachment process against him and the 2027 National Elective Conference,” the source said.
“The president is aware that the group meets before each NWC meeting at one of the members’ home to agree on talking points and strategy on how to deal with Mbalula and to allegedly plot Ramaphosa’s downfall as head of state before December 2027 conference.
“The objective is stated without embarrassment: drive Mbalula out of Luthuli House by all means necessary to ultimately weaken Ramaphosa and have him recalled from Union Buildings.
“The IEC administrative failures are regarded as the most opportune moment to pounce on Mbalula because this is when they judge him to be at his weakest.
“But what has become clearer is that there are two fights happening simultaneously with one set of combatants.”
On the list saga, besides the Constitutional Court appeal, the NWC meeting resolved that the ANC commission a forensic audit of the entire candidate nomination system, not isolate the Eastern Cape and that members cease finger-pointing.
Mbalula declined to comment, saying he did not discuss ANC meetings with the media.
National spokesperson, Bhengu, said details of what happens in ANC closed meetings are not for public consumption.
“I cannot confirm nor deny that because the NWC is a closed session, particularly on sensitive organizational matters of that nature,” she said.
- ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa warned ANC leaders at a national working committee meeting to stop attacking secretary-general Fikile Mbalula over the councillor candidates’ submission issues or face disciplinary action.
- The ANC failed to submit full candidate lists before the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s August 28 deadline, risking absence from ballots in key municipalities, affecting 181 candidates.
- An anti-Mbalula bloc within the ANC, including deputy minister Mondli Gungubele and others, is critical of Mbalula and opposes the Constitutional Court appeal against the IEC's rejection of reopening submission.
- Ramaphosa’s defense of Mbalula is seen as linked to protecting himself from consequences related to the Section 89 impeachment process and the 2027 National Elective Conference.
- The ANC resolved to commission a forensic audit of the candidate nomination system and called for an end to internal finger-pointing following the submission saga.
ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa has sternly cautioned ANC leaders against using the councillor candidates’ submission saga to place the political spotlight on secretary-general Fikile Mbalula or call for his removal.
During a national working committee (NWC) meeting on Monday, the Buffalo was fending off hyenas salivating over the former young lion, Mbalula.
Sunday World can reveal that Ramaphosa read the riot act to members of the NWC, instructing them to cease attacking Mbalula or face disciplinary action.
The defence comes as an anti-Mbalula NEC bloc is beginning to form.
The ANC faces the bleak prospect of being absent from the ballot in municipal strongholds of the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State after it failed to complete and submit its full candidate lists before the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s (IEC) August 28 deadline.
In Port St Johns and Ngquza Hill, where about three in four voters backed the ANC in 2021, it has no ward or PR candidates. In Mangaung, uMshwathi, Walter Sisulu and Sundays River Valley, it lost its PR lists. In all, 181 candidates are affected.
The party blamed system glitches but the IEC says the crisis is of its own making.
It lost a court bid to force the IEC to reopen the submission process and has since approached the Constitutional Court to challenge the verdict.
Mbalula has borne the brunt of the backlash, with a number of NEC members wanting him held accountable.
The offensive against the secretary-general in the NWC meeting on Monday is said to have been led by deputy minister Mondli Gungubele, who has criticised the IEC submission saga and is believed to be supported by Zizi Kodwa, Khusela Sangoni, Stella Ndabeni and chief whip Mdumiseni Ntuli.
The litigation against the IEC is said to have been the basis for the offensive, with those baying for Mbalula’s blood insisting there was no need to appeal to the apex court. The ANC nevertheless launched the appeal.
Ramaphosa is said to have stunned the meeting when he warned that any future attack on Mbalula, directly or by innuendo, would be sanctioned through a disciplinary process.
At the bruising NWC meeting, which ran from 2pm until midnight, the ANC top seven held the line, amplified by Youth League and Women’s League leaders who rallied behind the embattled secretary-general.
Other NWC members who came to Mbalula’s defence were Fébé Potgieter-Gqubule, Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi, national spokesperson Hlengiwe Bhengu, Mdu Manana, David Mahlobo and ANC head of presidency Sibongile Besani.
A third group, including Barbara Creecy and Thembi Simelane, is said to have called for calm.
Ramaphosa advised ANC leaders to desist from corridor whispers against the SG and invoked a doctrine popularised by the party’s longest serving president, OR Tambo: “Say it in front of the comrade or do not say it at all.”
“The president’s message to the leadership was blunt. He was unequivocal in his assessment that the ANC has slid back into a gossip season, with comrades plotting against one another in corridors, on phones and in private meetings rather than in the structures built for exactly that purpose,” an insider said.
Ramaphosa reportedly told the meeting that he was aware of the attacks on Mbalula and called for a ceasefire. Laying down the law, he warned that any leader who ignored the directive would face action.
“A president seldom ring-fences an individual office-bearer this plainly as the president did for Mbalula in front of the collective,” said an NWC member who is part of the anti-Mbalula grouping.
“It took us all by surprise because the message travels in two directions: to the caucus — he was telling us that Mbalula is not isolated — and to the wider NEC. He was clear that the next person caught running a whispering campaign has been warned in advance.
“But talk is cheap. We want to see if he was just making empty threats or he meant it. The test now is enforcement — the first disciplinary step will show whether the directive has teeth.”
Sources close to Ramaphosa told Sunday World that what triggered his spirited defence of Mbalula was a belief that the offensive was ultimately directed at him.
Ramaphosa is said to be aware that inside the party, Mbalula is seen as standing between the president and the Section 89 impeachment process in Parliament concerning the theft of dollars at Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm.
“The chief has come to learn that the two issues driving everything that is happening are Parliament’s impeachment process against him and the 2027 National Elective Conference,” the source said.
“The president is aware that the group meets before each NWC meeting at one of the members’ home to agree on talking points and strategy on how to deal with Mbalula and to allegedly plot Ramaphosa’s downfall as head of state before December 2027 conference.
“The objective is stated without embarrassment: drive Mbalula out of Luthuli House by all means necessary to ultimately weaken Ramaphosa and have him recalled from Union Buildings.
“The IEC administrative failures are regarded as the most opportune moment to pounce on Mbalula because this is when they judge him to be at his weakest.
“But what has become clearer is that there are two fights happening simultaneously with one set of combatants.”
On the list saga, besides the Constitutional Court appeal, the NWC meeting resolved that the ANC commission a forensic audit of the entire candidate nomination system, not isolate the Eastern Cape and that members cease finger-pointing.
Mbalula declined to comment, saying he did not discuss ANC meetings with the media.
National spokesperson, Bhengu, said details of what happens in ANC closed meetings are not for public consumption.
“I cannot confirm nor deny that because the NWC is a closed session, particularly on sensitive organizational matters of that nature,” she said.
