Ramaphosa is reportedly emerging strong amidst Cabinet talks …

Last weekend, the ANC’s National Executive Committee (NEC) set out to establish clean party regulations around what would be right for its leaders and members should they face charges of corruption or if there were accusations of corruption in their against. So far, it was unclear if those who do not face charges, but do face strong corruption accusations, should also step aside, or if this should only happen once a leader is indicted. There could be some clarity in the post-NEC press conference expected earlier this week.

For example, Limpopo Provincial Treasurer Danny Msiza and Vhembe Mayor Florence Radzilani were returned to their posts in July because no action had been taken to impeach them since they retired in December 2018 after being implicated in the looting of the VBS bank. A source from the province said they will remain in their positions for now because the NEC agreed over the weekend that it is difficult, and unfair, to act against them if they have not actually been charged. Msiza also managed that a court overturn the report’s findings implicating him earlier this month on procedural grounds.

There was strong pushback ahead of the weekend meeting by detractors of President Cyril Ramaphosa after he wrote a seven-page letter to ANC members on the Sunday before the special NEC meeting, saying the party he was the main defendant when it came to corruption. Among those who responded was former President Jacob Zuma, who faces a number of corruption charges and whose close associates were implicated in wrongdoing by #GuptaLeaks.

Those in the Zuma camp appear to be under siege at this time, and ANC Secretary General Ace Magashule was called to account before the party’s Integrity Committee to explain what he meant when he said in an interview on 7 July:

“I will not walk away because of corruption charges.” The outcome of last weekend’s NEC meeting could be just one indicator of how this hearing could fare.

However, several people from the Zuma camp have asked Ramaphosa to resign. Zuma, in his letter, referred to Ramaphosa’s fundraising for his campaign to become president in 2017 as wrong and frowned upon under ANC rules. Charges have also been brought against Ramaphosa in connection with funding his campaign by Black First Land First leader Andile Mngxitama, a longtime ally of the Zuma camp, and this, in turn, has also been used by national working committee member Tony Yengeni. as by the mayor of Ekurhuleni, Mzwandile Masina, to ask Ramaphosa to resign.

However, Ramaphosa has gone ahead of this measure and has already told the Integrity Commission that it would undergo scrutiny. The NEC this weekend was reported to have said that others such as Cooperative Governance Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma and Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu should also have their campaign donations scrutinized.

An ANC source said Ramaphosa is likely to be cleared by the Integrity Commission because “he has done nothing wrong” and campaigns within the ANC “have always depended on large budgets,” sometimes even state funds. He also claimed that the Ramaphosa campaign has “information and evidence” of how his opponents obtained the money. “It is not illegal, but the party discourages it,” he said.

There was also talk that Ramaphosa would carry out a cabinet shakeup after this NEC to strengthen his hand, a move typically used by Zuma during his tenure. A significant number of Zuma’s 11 Cabinet reshuffles during his nearly nine years in office were used to consolidate his power after a favorable meeting or event. While Zuma did not always inform the top six party officials about these movements, which sometimes occurred late at night. Ramaphosa appointed his cabinet after last year’s general election with the acceptance of party officials.

The vacancy left after Deputy Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Bavelile Hlongwa was killed in a car accident last September could present Ramaphosa with an opportunity to reorganize. He could also be forced to fire Deputy Defense Minister Thabang Makwetla, who was found guilty by a parliamentary portfolio committee of failing to declare gifts from the disgraced Bosasa security company.

Similarly, the Minister of Small Business Development, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, was implicated by a court ruling in irregularities in tenders during her time as a municipal administrator in Limpopo. There have also been rumors that Communications Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams is in the line of fire after she twice ignored Parliament, the latest case being last week when she appointed five instead of the six recommended advisers to the Authority. Independent of Communications. She was also put on leave for a month at the beginning of the Covid-19 lockdown for disobeying regulations and posting about it on social media.

The name of Finance Minister Tito Mboweni was also featured in these reorganization rumors, but it is possible that his detractors in the ANC used his reprimand last week for criticizing the Zambian government’s decision to fire the governor of that country’s central bank to feed them.

Mboweni on Sunday night tweeted:

“There is a malicious rumor that I have resigned! It’s false. I am firmly here as Minister of Finance. We have work to do. So much to do: fix our economy! No time for [sic] meanness.”

There is already talk of branch members becoming agitated because their voices are not heard (branches cannot meet due to Covid-19 restrictions and with limited connectivity many cannot hold meetings online) and convene the national general council of the party. – the largest meeting of branch representatives between their quinquennial elective conferences – to be convened. It couldn’t happen this winter due to the Covid-19 lockdown.

Next year’s local government elections are on the horizon, and members of the branch, as before, are expected to participate in deciding who will be the party’s candidate in their districts, an issue that has previously led to violence. and even murder. This could partly explain the turmoil.

Voters, at the same time, are increasingly disillusioned after a fair amount of transparency has exposed a great deal of waste in Covid-19-related medical supply tenders in recent months (the latest report notes that the Gauteng government spent R500 million above market-related prices on these products and supplies). We will have to see the ANC acting if it does not want to bleed more votes.

Given that the pandemic is likely to last until the end of the year and beyond, the ANC may not be able to rely, as usual, on being able to rally voters to its favor by holding feel-good campaign rallies. With Ramaphosa turning off the bribery tap, and with donors possibly feeling the effects of this and the economic downturn related to the pandemic, the party’s campaign coffers are likely to be quite empty.

The party may now have to deliver on some promises, or at least appear to, to win votes. DM