The ANC will hold its National General Council in Boksburg this week amid rumours of a plot to remove President Cyril Ramaphosa. Here’s what you need to know and what the direction of travel may be this week. The National General Council (NGC) of the ANC runs from 8-12 December at the Birchwood Conference Centre in Boksburg.
National conferences hold significant importance as electoral gatherings, whereas an NGC serves a different purpose: it assesses policy and evaluates the party’s progress in fulfilling its resolutions. However, NGCs have been a proxy for how well the party’s president is doing and what the rank and file are thinking about the president’s performance. At previous NGCs, it was possible to perceive the growing discontent surrounding former president Thabo Mbeki, signalling the emergence of the Jacob Zuma era.
The Sunday World has, over the past few months, reported that President Cyril Ramaphosa could face a move to unseat him at the NGC, with Mbeki installed as a caretaker president. The publication said theresistance to Ramaphosais led by two deputy ministers, Mondli Gungubele (Communications) and Joe Phaahla (Health). It also reported that Ramaphosa stared down a rebellion by warning against it during a meeting of the party’s National Executive Committee.
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Both Gungubele and Phaahla, who were demoted from full to deputy ministers last year, denied the reports. Mawande AmaShabalala and Setumo Stone, who led the reporting, are experienced and connected, and I read them religiously. However, the reports are unsourced, and there is no indication of how many sources the publication spoke to.
My rule of thumb when editing and relying on anonymous sources in political reporting is that it is necessary to have at least three sources and indicate where they fit into the power matrix. (The Sunday World is hard-paywalled. I find it better to buy a subscription on Magzter.) It was interesting to watch the denials ping into our inboxes from the ANC after the Sunday World report over the weekend.
The ANC said it was “misleading and destructive reporting”. Quoting the party grandee, the late Oliver Tambo, the party warned against “wedge-drivers” or factionalists in its ranks. Next to defend unity was the ANC Youth League (ANCYL).
“We reject with contempt the baseless claims that there are any plans to recall President Cyril Ramaphosa,” it said. The ANCYL is usually a staging post for generational insurrection in the party, so it’s worth taking the denial seriously. Also in Sunday World, Queenin Masuabi reported that the Veterans League, led by Snuki Zikalala, also blew a gasket at the reports.
Lizeka Tandwa ofTimesLIVEreported that Gungubele asked the party’s National Working Committee, its operational executive, to investigate the rumours, and it had agreed. She also reported that Ramaphosa’s hosting of a successful G20 had shored up his position. (TimesLIVE is paywalled and well worth a subscription.)
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