The ANC concluded its latest National Executive Committee meeting over the past weekend and rather than spend the time preparing the party for the coming National Elective Conference next month – the weekend was consumed with debates over whether Cyril Ramaphosa should step aside as president.
Below is a round-up of trending opinions:
Justice Malala writes that when a party is consumed by infighting and factional warfare, rather than an honest and critical assessment of its performance during its term of government, it must be voted out at the next elections. The preoccupation over trying to stab rival faction members in the back leaves the country’s state organs to rot and compounds the issues plaguing South Africa.
One of the president’s chief opponents, the longest-serving cabinet member, Lindiwe Sisulu, has openly and brazenly attacked Ramaphosa in recent weeks, going as far as to demand that he resigns over his ‘failed’ leadership of the party. Financial Mail writes it would be difficult for Sisulu to be re-elected to the ANC national executive committee and once she drops from that structure there should be nothing holding Ramaphosa back from firing her from his cabinet.
Ramaphosa betrayed the promise he made to all South Africans during his first speech to the country when he became president in 2018. In that speech, Ramaphosa promised to lead in the style of Nelson Mandela through ethical leadership. Instead of taking the nation in his confidence about the Phala Phala farm robbery, he chose to shut up shop and explain the saga to his party first. His actions are akin to his predecessors who often put party before country, writes Sydney Majoko.
