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President Jacob Zuma

Udo W. Froese Afrika other Side of Coin

The plan to hijack the African National Congress (ANC) by 2019 seems well advanced. A massive propaganda campaign created the deception that it is ANC — and country president Jacob Zuma, who is corrupt and in that, he allowed the state to be captured.However, it is not Zuma who is the actual target of the “counter revolutionaries”, their backers and their corporate mainstream media. There are forces both on the inside and the outside of the ANC, hell-bent to reduce the movement to a mere second to the Democratic Alliance (DA) and its recently joined Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in the forthcoming presidential and national elections in 2019.

Will current ANC president Zuma and the ruling party whither the storm? Will the corporate media “stalwarts” in the movement muster a large enough constituency to counter the ANC branches nationally? Who will be the next ANC and possibly the next country president in 2019?

It is evident that those who launched the attack on President Zuma and the ANC have no constituency outside the corporate media cartels, the academic political analysts, and the owners of the economy. This is the reason for them having requested to meet the ANC.

They already met with the ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe. He too has no constituency and knows it. But the “stalwarts”, also known as “counter-revolutionaries”, would not admit to it. They also have realised that “Jacob Zuma’s constituency is too strong to be challenged”.

Senior ANC NEC insiders raised the questions, “Is the ANC SG Mantashe, not also in the stable of Anglo American Corporation? Which hat does he actually wear? Cde SG Mantashe (as he is also known within the ANC) will not deliver and will be out of the ANC top structure by the end of next year. He is not a serious factor.”

The “counter-revolutionaries” assured their backers and the media that they will organise a strong constituency. But they fail to explain, how they would build such constituency, despite their access to huge funds.

A senior and highly respected ANC NEC member explained to this writer under the condition of anonymity, “Two of those ‘stalwarts’ are trying to organise constituencies for their group. Both attempt to get particular constituencies together, as they have realised that they would not be able to get to the ANC branches. One is Cde Siphiwe Nyanda. He tries to mobilise the armed wing of the ANC, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK). This is a serious struggle though. It is not a constituency they will be able to rely on.”

According to the reliably well-informed senior ANC NEC member, “It is not deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa who could be the next ANC and country president. It seems that he was guided not to talk, because it could jeopardise his position. The main candidate for ANC presidency from those ‘stalwarts’, or ‘counter revolutionaries’ is the Reverend Frank Chikane. At one stage he was a senior officer in recalled former president Thabo Mbeki’s office. But, the poor priest has no constituency at all, despite mobilising the masses against the ANC from the pulpit. Chikane is also part of the ‘counter revolutionaries’ Rivonia Branch in Johannesburg. If the ANC has not relented by May 2017, Frank Chikane will be out of the movement.”

“The ‘stalwarts’ third option to build their constituency is to resuscitate the long dead and buried United Democratic Front (UDF). Such destructive activities would be futile though. Recalled former president Thabo Mbeki’s men, Sipho Pityana, Sydney Mufamadi and Frank Chikane work closely together.”

“By alerting all ANC branches countrywide (they) strengthened Jacob Zuma. It will be a big fight well into 2017, involving all branches. Corporates too will play a vicious role, as they muscle in and manipulate from the shadows to assist with hijacking the ruling ANC. But, the ruling party and its branches understand the efforts to destroy it.”

“Meanwhile, the ANC ‘renegades’, as the ‘stalwarts’ are also known, would like Zuma to draw his hat and hand over his position and that of the rest of the ANC and government to them,” senior ANC cadres explained.

A seasoned ANC NEC member made his assumed prognosis: “First, the inevitability is expected that heads will roll before the no-confidence vote in Parliament in February 2017. President Zuma is expected to agree to that move. Those include all cabinet members, who turned against the head-of-state and commander-in-chief.”

“Second, the ANC will honour its decision to hold a policy conference in May 2017 to discuss the organisational issues during the first two days. “Third, the ANC will whither the storm against Parliament’s no-confidence motion, pushed for by the DA-EFF. “Fourth, it is critical that the ANC will succeed. The chances to come out unscathed are good, as the movement currently builds confidence throughout all branches.

“Fifth, this time the ANC will have to get strong leadership to dismantle the colonial-apartheid institutions and infrastructure totally. The revered late ANC president Oliver Tambo insisted that the ANC would need ‘independent popular objectives. Without those, it would be impossible to even think of economic changes in South Africa.

“Sixth, it has become more important than ever before that state power and institutions have to be used to dictate terms to corporates. Agriculture and the land issue must be in their doing. Here is a perfect example of how the EFF has hijacked the ANC’s policy debate.”

Finally, if the above-mentioned prognostic assumptions come true, the ANC would win all the way; possibly receive over 66 percent of the national vote by 2019. But, where would the ANC find those leaders to do just that?

“The Southern African Development Community would not be able to do anything, unless the citadel of the ‘counter revolutionary forces’ has been totally destroyed. So far South Africa has let this region down. It is fact, if the ANC and South Africa are destroyed, particularly Britain and Germany would face serious economic trouble,” a senior ANC NEC member pointed out.

He added, “If South Africa and the ANC are strong, Africa’s and the world economies would be strengthened.”

The writer is a non-institutionalised, independent political and socio-economic analyst and published columnist based in Johannesburg, South Africa.