Ramaphosa exit claims: Could ANC face a leadership crisis?
A political analyst says the ANC has run out of capable leaders to replace President Cyril Ramaphosa if the plot to remove him is true.
Image: Presidency
Political analyst Susan Booysen believes that recalling President Cyril Ramaphosa could leave the ANC without a capable leader to lead it forward.
Booysen was responding to reports that the ANC will investigate allegations that Deputy Minister of Communication Mondli Gungubele and Deputy Health Minister Joe Phaahla were behind a plot to oust Ramaphosa before the end of his term as the ANC president.
Both Gungubele and Phaahla, who backed Ramaphosa to be elected ANC president in 2017 and 2022, have since distanced themselves from the plot.
The report of the plot came while the ANC was preparing to hold its National General Council (NGC), which will start on Monday.
Ramaphosa’s leadership was marred by the ANC's poor performance in last year’s general elections, which saw it for the first time since 1994 scoring less than 50%, leading to the formation of the multi-party Government of National Unity.
The party also lost control of the KwaZulu-Natal government, which is now led by IFP provincial chairperson Thami Ntuli.
Ramaphosa has also been praised for standing up against the US President Donald Trump and hosting a successful G20 Summit.
Booysen said that although Ramaphosa was not safe, the ANC would struggle after his departure.
“I don’t see anybody with a significant standing, but I really see a very big shortage of people who are grounded, people who appeal, people with charisma and who will be able to drive an alternative to Cyril Ramaphosa, whom I know from the instruments such as public opinion polls, by far, he is the strongest standing among other ANC leaders.”
She said Ramaphosa’s detractors were using the ANC’s challenges to plot against him by casting doubts on his leadership of the party, which she said he had kept together despite the formation of the uMkhonto weSizwe Party as a breakaway party.
“There have been challenges here and there, and he has not always had an exemplary record in his personal staff.
“Yes, he had promoted a narrative that the ANC is turning the corner and was dealing with corruption in the state, but we all know how limited that is.
“But he has created some form of credibility for the ANC, of which I cannot see any ANC leader who can manage to do that under the circumstances.”
She said it was understandable that in a party as big as the ANC, there would always be many contending leaders, who have their own ambitions.
Cosatu President Zingiswa Losi described those who might be behind the plot as “small minds”, which the federation would not elevate by responding to them.
“We are not going to elevate small minds and make them big.
“We did not issue a statement because we did not want to elevate faceless investors,” said Losi on Saturday on the sidelines of Cosatu’s 40th anniversary celebration in Dobsonville, Soweto, which was also attended by Ramaphosa and SACP general secretary Solly Mapaila.
ANC national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu rejected the plot allegations as unfounded sensationalism aimed at falsely depicting a divided leadership with plots to remove the President.
“These fabricated stories are deliberately designed to manufacture divisions where none exist and distract us from our core mission of renewal, which is rooted in unity, service to our people, and strengthening ethical and accountable democratic governance.
“No amount of gossip-driven journalism or anonymous speculation will deflect the ANC from rebuilding itself as an effective instrument of transformation,” she said.