Fresh details on why ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula was booed by members of the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) during their national general council (NGC) in Kimberley, North Cape, emerged this week.
Mbalula has allegedly pointed a finger at his ally and head of organizing Mdu Manana, accusing him of orchestrating the edifying spectacles to embarrass him after he stripped him of the powers he arrogated himself to audit the branches of the ANC.
Several senior ANC members who did not want to be named claimed that Manana engineered Mbalula’s heckling after the Luthuli House boss discovered that he had been manipulating regional conferences outcomes for his own selfish and narrow political ambitions to replace him as the organisation’s next secretary-general (SG).
The bubbling flare-up, punctuated by a chorus of boos against Mbalula from ANCYL delegates in Mpumalanga at the NGC in Kimberley, was not a spontaneous revolt, according to insiders.
Rather, they said, it was an orchestrated payback after Mbalula rebuffed Manana’s “dirty work”– for manipulating conference processes to advance his ambitions to succeed him at the party’s next national elective conference in 2027.
Sources allege that Manana orchestrated the booing and jeering, determined to “teach Mbalula a lesson” for standing in his way.
Our moles at Luthuli House, where the two men work daily, painted a picture of a relationship soured by unchecked ambition. They alleged that Manana’s ambition for political elevation is getting out of hand, and he is dragging Mbalula’s name through the mud to get ahead.
Among other senior leaders who have raised the red flag about Manana’s alleged interference was Eastern Cape provincial chairperson Oscar Mabuyane.
Mbalula, after ignoring tip-offs for months, finally cracked down before the Ekurhuleni regional conference. Complaints poured in that Manana was fiddling with the process.
In a move that sent shockwaves at Luthuli House, Mbalula reportedly issued a stern letter, stripping Manana of the authority he unilaterally usurped to audit ANC branches, one insider stressed.
“It was for this type of maneuvering that Mbaks (Mbalula) removed Mdu from branch auditing. He was messing up, using powers that did not belong to him in the first place because those powers do not rest with politicians.
“Some of us [have seen] the letter of Mbalula laying down the law which was given to Jongi (Dlabathi) during the Ekurhuleni regional conference when he complained about Mdu’s fiddling there,” said an insider with intimate knowledge of Luthuli House happenings.
But Manana, undeterred, is said to have not given up after Mbalula cracked the whip through the letter, instructing him to stay in his lane.
He allegedly lobbied Mbalula for support to install ANCYL financial boss Zwelo Masilela at the Ehlanzeni regional conference. Mbalula refused, and Masilela badly lost at the polls.
“Zwelo (Masilela) was thoroughly beaten there in the Ehlanzeni regional conference, and it has nothing to do with Mbalula. But he and Mdu wanted the SG to interfere with organisational democratic processes to give them an upper hand.
“When Mbalula refused to play ball, he became their target. Mbalula would have been embarrassed had he tried to -interfere there because the -anti-Zwelo wave there was too strong, and only two dozen people supported him,” a well-placed informant revealed.
With their plan thwarted, Manana and Masilela allegedly conspired to orchestrate the humiliating booing at Kimberley. “They then decided to influence the Mpumalanga delegation to the ANC Youth League NGC in Kimberley to boo Mbalula to embarrass him, a plot which Mbalula was informed of in advance; hence, he confronted it head-on.”
Those sympathetic to Masilela and Manana attempted to pour cold water on the beef with Mbalula, blaming the secretariat’s administrative head of organizing Mandla Qwane of stirring the pot.
“There is no real beef between the SG and Mdu, the misunderstanding is the work of Mandla Qwane, who is the real culprit in the cooking of branches at these regional conferences. Sadly, by the time Mbalula wakes up to this reality, it will be too late, and some relations would have been destroyed to the point of being irreconcilable,” said the deep throat privy to developments.
But these power plays run deeper than public embarrassments. Insiders allege Manana and Masilela are hard at work plotting to dethrone ANC Mpumalanga chairperson Mandla Ndlovu and take control of the province ahead of the high-stakes national conference in December 2027.
According to those close to both men, Mbalula’s slow response to Manana’s actions stemmed from misplaced trust. “The SG left it too late to act against Manana because he genuinely believed he was on his side.
“However, it has since emerged that Manana was merely using Mbalula to advance his agenda of setting up an infrastructure that will deliver him as one of the ANC national officials in the 2027 national conference.”
One member of the ANC national executive committee said, “Mdu wants to be SG in 2027 and has been using the regional conferences to build an infrastructure using Mbalula’s name. The facts are that Mbalula did not send him to do those things and is now getting burnt for things he knows nothing about.
“Among those are the controversies over Limpopo regional conferences. Mbalula put his foot down because his political enemies were using Mdu’s shenanigans to fight him, and he is perpetually in defence mode about things he did not do.”
Mbalula, Manana and Masilela refused to comment on these explosive allegations.
Qwane had not responded to Sunday World’s queries at the time of going to publication. ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri downplayed the fallout saying the allegations are untested.
“We advise against the factional attempt at driving a wedge between and among ANC leaders. The ANC’s singular focus is its renewal and rebuilding programme,” she said.
