President Cyril Ramaphosa’s closest backers were on Sunday preparing a multipronged strategy to take the fight for his presidency to his opponents.
It starts with filing papers as early as Monday morning to challenge the section 89 panel’s findings on the Phala Phala matter which would provide legal grounds to bolster a political argument against his resignation or impeachment.
The national executive committee (NEC) of the ANC is due to meet from 10am on Monday, just a day before parliament is due to discuss the report which, if adopted, would lead to an impeachment committee being set up.
While Tuesday’s parliamentary sitting to discuss and vote on the report could go ahead regardless, it is expected that Ramaphosa’s supporters in the ANC caucus will reject the panel’s report. Ramaphosa’s confidantes believe it is flawed.
The Ramaphosa camp was preparing a speakers’ list of MPs who would argue against adopting the report. The party line is a two-stroke argument that the report needs to be revised and that it would only be wise to adopt it after the outcome of the review process, insiders said.
The ANC’s 259 MPs would receive firm marching orders ahead of the debate. The vote would be open, making it difficult for ANC MPs to vote secretly in support of the report.
A simple majority of the 400 MPs in the National Assembly is required to quash the report. As president, Ramaphosa is not an MP and is not compelled to be present for the debate.
An independent committee headed by retired chief justice Sandile Ngcobo authored the report, which found that Ramaphosa may have an impeachable case in the Phala Phala scandal.
‘Flawed report’
University of Cape Town law professor Richard Calland said while a number of processes ahead are still unpredictable, it was “essential politically and legally that (Ramaphosa) has the report reviewed” for the sake of the credibility of his fight against state capture.
“I think that what has happened over the last two days is a recognition by him and by a significant number of people within the ANC that it would be a mistake, and unfair, and not helpful to the constitutional principle for a president to be recalled or resign on the basis of a flawed report,” said Calland, who was appointed to the “Ngcobo panel” but withdrew after opposition party criticism that he was biased in favour of Ramaphosa.
Calland said unless Ramaphosa sought a suspension of the parliamentary process, a debate on the report could still go ahead.
The Ramaphosa faction was at the weekend preparing to ram through its line-up for the ANC’s elective conference later this month when Ramaphosa is set to face up against Zweli Mkhize.
ANC rules allow candidates to be nominated on election day if they get 25% of the 4,000 delegates. The Ramaphosa camp has to settle on a deputy president candidate between water & sanitation minister Senzo Mchunu, who is not an official nominee yet, justice & correctional services minister Ronald Lamola and Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane.
Ramaphosa’s staunchest campaigners have so far failed to persuade Mabuyane and Lamola to pull out. Mchunu is a former KwaZulu-Natal premier and chair. It is hoped he would dilute the strength of the anti-Ramaphosa sentiment in his home province.
Minerals & energy minister Gwede Mantashe has emerged as a forceful character behind Ramaphosa, as he was one of the people who persuaded him not to resign last week. He is the Ramaphosa camp’s favourite for the ANC chair post, a position he now holds. A deal with other Ramaphosa-supporting provinces such as Limpopo would have to be made if he is to win.
The same applies to transport minister Fikile Mbalula, one of the candidates for the secretary-general post, which has former KwaZulu-Natal ANC provincial secretary Mdumiseni Ntuli as the leading candidate based on the branch nomination votes.
The intricacies demonstrate a complicated consolidation process ahead and a rearguard battle that is still to be waged within the Ramaphosa faction first before they can have a dominant show at the party’s elections in two weeks.
LISTEN | Phala phala report and its significance
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