President Cyril Ramaphosa’s advisor Jomo Sibiya has jumped into the bandwagon of those who have taken a swipe at the uMkhonto weSizwe party (MK Party).
The MK Party is spear-headed by former ANC president Jacob Zuma, who announced on December 16 that he will not vote for the governing party.
Sibiya, though he did not mention Zuma by name, said on his social media account that during his reign as president, Zuma sold out and led to the killing of Libya’s president Muammar Gaddafi by Nato (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) forces.
He, however, heaped praises on his political principal.
“President Ramaphosa remains the only president in the world to take on Israel [and its western backers] head on. Others we can’t forget what they did to Libya,” Sibiya said on social media.
Sibiya, who hails from eNquthu, a town in Umzinyathi district municipality in northern KwaZulu-Natal, is the former provincial MEC for human settlements and public works.
Kicked out of provincial cabinet
He was unceremoniously booted out of the provincial cabinet when his faction lost out to a competing internal party grouping in July 2022 at the ANC provincial elective conference.
The competing group, spear-headed by current ANC provincial secretary Bheki Mtolo and chairperson Siboniso Duma, made a clean sweep at the conference.
In December, Mtolo accused Zuma of ill-discipline and alleged that the former statesman had divorced himself from the ANC by throwing his weight behind the MK Party.
Sibiya, who was recently roped in by Ramaphosa as his special advisor, has been hard at work on social media butting heads with his former comrades who defected to the MK Party.
On Sunday, it was Sibiya who came to Ramaphosa’s defence when news emerged alleging that the head of state had collapsed and was admitted to an undisclosed health facility.
“President Ramaphosa of the ANC is fine, he has no health challenges. He decided to rest today. Let’s stop circulating lies and untrue stories,” charged Sibiya.
Vincent Magwenya, spokesperson for the Presidency, also labelled the rumours as malicious, saying they are intended to cause panic.
“There was no emergency. The president attended a meeting and decided to spend the rest of the day at home ahead of a busy week,” said Magwenya.
ANC support plummets
Political pundits have already suggested that Ramaphosa should call for an early election date to avoid a possible bloodbath for the governing party at the polls.
The MK Party has been criss-crossing the length and breadth of the country holding what it calls meet-and-greet sessions aimed at gaining support ahead of the general elections.
The ANC’s electoral support has been declining since the 2009 general elections.
The last time that the party recorded an overwhelming majority was during the 2004 provincial and national elections under former president Thabo Mbeki, garnering close to 70% of the votes.
It has been downhill since then.
2004 is the same year that the country recorded the highest number of registered voters with about 21-million people registered to cast their ballots.
At the weekend, the 112-year-old liberation movement will hold its annual January 8 festivities in Mpumalanga.
