Several party members in KwaZulu-Natal share the view of ousted ANC member Carl Niehaus that a separate movement needs to be established to “save” the ANC’s historic mission.
This is according to Nkosentsha Shezi, chairman of the so-called radical economic transformation (RET) faction of the ANC, whose camp opposes the leadership of President Cyril Ramaphosa.
“It is a fact that most ANC members, particularly here in KwaZulu-Natal, are devastated after Ramaphosa’s re-election,” Shezi said.
“As RET, we are concerned that the majority of ANC members in KwaZulu-Natal will vote for opposition parties in 2024 if something is not done to assure them that the ANC’s historic mission and party resolutions, particularly around economic transformation, be saved.”
Niehaus, who resigned a few days after the ANC’s national disciplinary committee ruled to expel him from the party, recently announced a new move to accommodate party members unhappy with the direction the ruling party was taking under Ramaphosa.
“Comrades, this year we are going to continue building a broad civil society, a broad political movement that will work for the full liberation of our people, which will also work for the liberation of so many comrades from the African National Congress who have been betrayed by a capitalist group. buyer of rogue and sellout white monopoly capitalist agents,” Niehaus said in a statement.
A staunch supporter of former president Jacob Zuma, Niehaus was part of the RET faction in the ANC that wanted Ramaphosa removed at the party’s December national conference.
Although Shezi said Niehaus’s plans to launch a rival ANC movement led by Ramaphosa were “personal initiatives” by the ousted party member, he added that members of the ANC’s RET faction were “considering various options”.
“If you look at the people who have been elected to leadership positions in the ANC national conference, most of them are Ramaphosa loyalists. This tells us that these people will fully participate in the project of marginalizing President Jacob Zuma; this will anger many ANC voters in KwaZulu-Natal.
“As RET, we have an obligation to provide the people of KwaZulu-Natal with an alternative political home ahead of next year’s national elections. We will definitely make an announcement before the end of January,” Shezi said.
He was speaking on the same day that the newly elected ANC secretary general, Fikile Mbalula, said that the party’s top brass planned to meet with Zuma.
The former president is seeking to pursue a private prosecution against Ramaphosa for being an “accomplice after the fact” in the “crimes” Zuma alleges state attorney Billy Downer has committed. Zuma is also privately prosecuting Downer. Downer is the lead prosecutor in the arms deal corruption case against Zuma and the French company Thales.
Shezi said the newly elected ANC leaders were not sympathetic to Zuma. “There is no way they can make peace with President Zuma. His mission is to undermine him to appease Ramaphosa.
“That is why we are so disappointed with Ramaphosa’s re-election. It is bad for the RET forces and President Zuma”, he said.
This story was first published in The witness.
