A letter inviting members of the ANC KwaZulu-Natal provincial executive committee (PEC) to a meeting with Luthuli House has gone viral. The meeting was initially scheduled for the weekend, but this columnist understands it has now been moved to Monday.
Ordinarily, a meeting between the ANC national executive committee (NEC) and one of its subordinate structures would attract very little attention. But these are no ordinary times on the political front, as the dire consequences of the May 29 general election results continue to play themselves out for different political parties.
Over the past few weeks, we've witnessed the EFF go through its most traumatic period since its establishment in 2013, with some of its high-profile members abandoning ship and throwing their lot with the new kid on the block – Jacob Zuma’s MK Party – which has replaced the Red Berets as SA’s third biggest party.
With every press conference, interview or public meeting EFF leader Julius Malema. addresses, it becomes clearer how devastating the departure of Floyd Shivambu, Dali Mpofu and others have been for him. But as 2024 comes to an end, Malema can take solace in the fact that the worst is finally over for him and the EFF.
From the upcoming national people’s assembly, the EFF’s national conference, Malema and the remaining fighters can start a process of rebuilding the party and possibly repositioning it to be more attractive to those voters who, while having given up on the ANC, are still put off by some of the EFF’s political rhetoric and style of politics.
Five years may not be a long time in politics, but it is a long enough period for any party to reposition itself.
Now that many of those who wore red berets in parliament while their hearts were in Inkandla are gone, Malema has the luxury of preparing for the 2026 local government elections as well as the 2029 general elections without having to constantly watch his back in fear that one of his trusted generals may be aiming to stab him in the back with Zuma’s spear.
The same cannot be said of the ANC. Although it's an obvious truth the biggest damage done by the entry of MK Party into the political arena was to the ANC, the reality is that this was merely the first wave of attack – much more devastation is still coming Luthuli House’s way.
If ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula is still as close to Malema as he was many years ago, it would be a good idea to ask for a team meeting with his friends — if only to pick up tips on how to survive an MK Party attack on one’s membership.
Since the MK Party’s establishment almost a year ago, Zuma has not attracted any current and prominent ANC leaders to his ranks. Those who have gone over, like Nathi Nhleko and Willies Mchunu, were washed-up ANC politicians with no discernible following or influence.
But this ought not give the ANC a false sense of security, because it is highly possible that Zuma intended for it to be so, to buy time, so that he can hit the ruling party when it matters the most.
What better way to disrupt and undermine the ANC’s election campaign strategy in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and parts of Mpumalanga than to have ANC councillors defecting to MK Party just before the next local government elections?
The manner in which the ANC lost support in KZN on May 29 left many in the party believing MK Party “sleeper cells” exists even within the most senior structures of the ANC in the province. No one has produced any tangible evidence of this, but what is clear is that such suspicions have resulted in a lot of mistrust within the ranks. Hence the upcoming meeting between Luthuli House and the PEC has become highly anticipated by all sides.
If the rumour mill is to be believed, Luthuli House will on Monday announce that it has effectively disbanded the KZN PEC, replacing it with an interim structure that would include political heavyweights who were at the helm of the ANC in the province during the Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki years.
The move would be sold as an attempt to strengthen the party in a province where the current leadership of chairperson Siboniso Duma and secretary Bheki Mtolo is deemed too lightweight to take on Zuma.
The reality, however, is that at the centre of the move would be to root-out more than a handful of current PEC members who are believed to sing Ramaphosa re mo rata kaofela (We all love Ramaphosa) by day and chant Gwaza Mkhonto (stab with a spear) by night.
Those pushing for the purge say it is better to force the “MK Party sleepers” now than wait for them to announce their departure at a time that would be most unsuitable for the ANC.
Once the clean-up at provincial level is done, it would be interesting to see if Luthuli House would have the same courage to go after other suspected Zuma loyalist who are sitting silently in the NEC, patiently bidding their time.
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