As Zuma plots his comeback, Ramaphosa’s leadership is increasingly seen as ineffective in bringing real change to the ANC.
Former president Jacob Zuma is biding his time, waiting for the government of national unity to fail, so he can pounce and wrest power over government and the ANC from a weakened President Cyril Ramaphosa.
However, while both veteran politicians want to pursue the idea of ANC renewal for different reasons, it will be a futile exercise, because the party is a lost cause, say experts.
University of KwaZulu-Natal politics lecture Zakhele Ndlovu said Ramaphosa’s talk without taking much action gave no hope that his ANC renewal project would bear fruit. He had not fulfilled his many promises to unite and renew the party, with the ANC remaining divided under his leadership.
Ramaphosa’s talk without action
On the other hand, uMkhonto weSizwe leader Zuma’s idea of reuniting the ANC and restoring it to its former glory is only a remote possibility, said Ndlovu.
Zuma’s strategy – of recruiting certain ANC members to join his uMkhonto weSizwe party (MK) with the aim of ultimately destroying ANC and re-establishing a new one – was nonsensical.
Insiders recently claimed Zuma planned to weaken and even destroy the ANC and the EFF and ultimately to force the two to merge with MK, along with the smaller parties. This would be followed by an amalgamation of all these parties to re-establish the original ANC.
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“Zuma’s idea of trying to bring about renewal in the ANC is nonsense and should not be entertained,” said Ndlovu.
“He needs to focus on his new political party and try to make sure that they prepare for the 2026 local elections.
“Zuma is trying to reinvent himself because he was disastrous as ANC leader and president of the country. He presided over a governing machinery responsible for the looting of state resources. He is a discredited leader and very bitter.
Zuma trying to reinvent himself
“Zuma needs to go home and spend time with his grandchildren and forget about politics.”
By forming MK, Zuma was trying to make himself relevant because he refused to accept he was no longer an ANC leader and the country’s president.
Of Ramaphosa, Ndlovu said: “He has been a huge disappointment. There were great expectations, especially for someone with a background in business.
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“He was expected to be a breath of fresh air. He even came up with Thuma Mina as if he was going to do something special, but he produced nothing.
“His first term was nothing to write home about – corruption continued unabated and during the Covid pandemic there were serious allegations about the stealing of state funds.”
Ndlovu was uncompromising about the ANC: “The ANC is incorrigible, the ANC cannot be fixed… the levels of corruption, incompetency cannot be reversed.
‘ANC cannot be fixed’
“It’s like cancer that is raging and in an advanced stage.”
Political economy analyst Daniel Silke said Zuma still felt he was part of the ANC and “does not believe that he has been legitimately excommunicated”.
“As he clearly believes he is part of the ANC, he will try to delegitimise Ramaphosa’s presidency and the government of national unity (GNU) because he believes Ramaphosa was a chief instigator of his removal.
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“He targeted the GNU because it ultimately prevented him from coming back into the political limelight.”
Within the ANC there were some who share Zuma’s views and that puts Ramaphosa in real danger, Silke added.
Zuma is hoping for the internal ructions within the ANC to worsen and that the GNU will fail, that the anti-DA voices within the ANC will get louder and the alliance partners would become vociferous in demanding that the ANC should distance itself from the DA.
Hoping internal ANC ructions worsen
Zuma also hoped Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi’s anti-GNU stance would gain enough momentum within the ANC to destroy the ANC-DA and IFP unity agreement.
“So, for the moment, Zuma will play a sort of external waiting game, he will have his political machinations aside. But off course he is not in control. I think, ultimately, the first prize for Zuma is to try and restore his political control over KZN given that the MK was largest party after the last vote.”
Silke said: “I think that for the moment I see this as being more a game of political chess being played by Zuma.”
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