ANC veterans, rejecting a “power at all costs” policy, are trying to hold the line against coalitions with either the EFF or the Patriotic Alliance (PA).
Within the next two weeks, the newly elected leadership of the ANC Veterans League will deliver their message to the ANC’s top seven, including President Cyril Ramaphosa and his deputy, Paul Mashatile.
The veterans are on the same page as the ANC Youth League, whose new leadership has urged the party to cut ties with the red berets. Secretary-general Fikile Mbalula has also said the ANC should re-evaluate its stance on partnering with the EFF.
There is growing disquiet in the party over the coalitions the Gauteng region has formed with the EFF in key metros Joburg and Ekurhuleni.
The Ekurhuleni arrangement has been labelled a “costly” mistake and a potential “existential threat” by insiders. In this metro the EFF holds five key mayoral committee positions — including those of finance and of water, sanitation & energy — though it only has 31 proportional representation seats in the council and no ward councillors. The ANC, with 86 seats in total — 78 of them ward councillors — also has five mayoral committee posts, but in relatively minor portfolios.
The ANC and EFF toppled a DA-led coalition in the council in March after months of negotiation between them. Ekurhuleni is a crucial base for the ANC, which held onto its outright majority in the province by a sliver in the 2019 national and provincial elections.
But the EFF is growing steadily in the metro and eating directly into the ANC’s voter base. There are fears among regional ANC leaders that the red berets are using their powerful position in the council to drive this growth by co-opting administration staff into its corner, among other things.
These fears are well founded.
Gauteng as a whole is a key target for the EFF in the 2024 elections. At its 10th anniversary celebrations in Soweto at the weekend, Julius Malema declared his party will be running the country’s richest and most populous province after the polls next year. He singled out the EFF’s Gauteng structures for praise after they filled FNB Stadium to the rafters for the occasion.
It is clear that the EFF’s ground game is strong in Gauteng, and particularly so in the large East Rand townships. Also, the EFF has become adept at exploiting internal ANC battles — those in the ANC who are disgruntled at Ramaphosa’s landslide second term victory could switch their vote to the red berets. Already, Jacob Zuma spin doctor Mzwanele Manyi has defected to the EFF, with a seat in parliament to show for it.
The EFF has been in talks with expelled ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule, who may not be a great asset nationally but has support in the Free State. However, he might try to launch his own party instead.
Veterans league president Snuki Zikalala tells the FM that the ANC tie-up with the EFF is all wrong for various reasons. Key among these is the EFF’s ideological outlook, which he describes as confusing. Further, the ANC and the EFF “fish in the same pond” for votes. The EFF, he says, does not subscribe to the constitutional values of the country or the values of the ANC.
“It is very clear they want to unseat us. Now how do we enter coalitions with such people? We are not here for power at all costs. We cannot go into coalitions with unethical people,” he says. He refers here to the EFF’s ties to Adriano Mazzotti, a known cigarette smuggler, who Malema singled out for particular praise at a gala dinner ahead of the anniversary rally.
Zikalala notes that the EFF does not readily declare its financiers — it is clear that Saturday’s rally at FNB Stadium was a costly affair, but little is known about how it was paid for.
The veterans league president dismisses the Kill the Boer controversy — fuelled by Elon Musk, among others — as a “storm in a teacup”. “Our people are highly mature, no-one takes that seriously and no South African would want to kill a boer … Our people are desperate, but they won’t do that.”
Zikalala stresses that ethical leadership is crucial — and this is why the ANC should also shun Gayton McKenzie’s PA. “How can we work with former convicts?” he asks.
The veterans league says it is set to help the ANC win an outright majority in next year’s elections, which will render the discussion about coalitions at national level moot. But it will work with the main body of the party to help stabilise coalitions at local level.
This weekend, political parties in parliament are meeting to discuss the issue, with the ANC likely to push strongly for an agreement that the largest party be allowed to form a government in hung councils; opposition parties will probably push back against this. The talks represent a key test of the maturity of political parties and whether they can put their differences aside for the sake of stability and service delivery at local government level.
Newly elected veterans league secretary-general Ilva Mackay Langa tells the FM that Nelson Mandela Bay — where the ANC won 39.4% of the vote and the DA 39.9% — is another example of how coalitions can go awry. Placing the council under an executive management committee would go a long way to resolving the impasse there, she says. However, the DA has gone to court to challenge a move to do so, while its own coalition has been removed by an ANC-EFF-PA tie-up.
The weight of the veterans’ opposition to getting into bed with the EFF may see some interesting shifts in strategy in the coming months — and make for a fascinating election next year.