ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula has pointed at former party leaders as the hidden hands behind a strategy to erode the governing party’s electoral support through sporadic formations of small political parties contesting for the same voter base.
Mbalula said the ANC was alert to the scheme and expected masterminds to up the ante in fueling the rise of many small political parties.
This is in the hope of undermining the ANC’s grip on power.
Without mentioning names, Mbalula suggested that such parties were influenced by ANC figures who had fallen from grace including former president Jacob Zuma and former secretary-general Ace Magashule.
The plot to dislodge President Cyril Ramaphosa began immediately after the 2017 Nasrec national conference, according to Mbalula, who was addressing the media at Luthuli House in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
Prior to the 2019 general elections, Zuma and Magashule were accused of being the invisible hands behind the emergence of the African Transformation Movement (ATM).
The ATM has since distinguished itself as the leading voice against Ramaphosa.
The strategy by proponents of the “sporadic emergence of small political parties”, Mbalula charged, was to have the ANC’s electoral support drop badly such that it instigates party structures to call for Ramaphosa’s head.
The plan, he added, had not so far succeeded, and it would continue to fail due to Ramaphosa’s popularity in the party.
Those behind the mushrooming of many political parties opposed to the ANC, he explained, were “demagogues” whose advances would be met by an ANC machinery under his command as day-to-day operations boss.
He claimed one of his first victories this week, saying the EFF-sponsored national shutdown on Monday was a “flop”.
“There has been a sporadic emergence of political parties and many more are likely to emerge,” said Mbalula in the two-hour-long engagement with members of the media.
“It happened in the last elections and some of these parties were formed by people dressed in ANC colours.
“Their main aim was to reduce the ANC majority in order to embarrass President Ramaphosa and to force him to be removed by means of judging by his failure in terms of the outcome of the election.
“That agenda is still there. This alliance of the wounded, anarchists, and demagogues is global, but it is also alive here in South Africa.”
Domestically, he said, the “alliance of demagogues” is led by those who refuse to warm up to the outcomes of both Nasrec national conferences, who “are trying to find space for themselves everywhere”.
Such demagogues in his view include Zuma, who was recently elected, controversially, as leader of Sanco (South African National Civic Organisation).
“And they are prominent leaders in Sanco. And some have formed a political party. We know that some ANC leaders who are still sticking around are going to lead these political formations. It is a test drive for now.”
Zuma was recently elected provincial chairperson of Sanco in KwaZulu-Natal. On Tuesday he addressed a Human Rights Day event in eThekwini where he took jabs at the government.
Mbalula said expelled ANC member Carl Niehaus, who now leads the African Radical Economic Transformation Alliance, is among those tasked with the mission to weaken the ANC support base.
“But let me tell you, the ANC will not be dethroned out of power,” he boasted.
To read more political news and views, click here.
Follow @SundayWorldZA on Twitter and @sundayworldza on Instagram, or like our Facebook Page, Sunday World, by clicking here for the latest breaking news in South Africa. To Subscribe to Sunday World, click here
