Former president Jacob Zuma’s tenure as ANC and state president is replete with lessons about his current political project — and the intention behind the MK party.
It is worth reflecting on because the parties which form the government of national unity (GNU), the ANC and DA in particular, representing the country’s single shot at righting the wrongs of Zuma’s tenure, have not fully grasped the significance of this moment.
While they profess to grasp it with apt descriptions of MK as a “doomsday party” by the DA and a “force to be reckoned with” by the ANC, their behaviour paints a different picture.
This places the country at risk — the chief risk is an SA falling back into the hands of Zuma or his allies who embody the destruction and ruin his presidency wrought on the country for more than a decade.
Weekend newspapers contained reports on the political memoirs of former ANC treasurer-general Mathews Phosa — detailing Zuma’s deep relationship with the Guptas mere months after the Polokwane conference and his election as ANC president. It detailed how then Public Investment Corporation chair Brian Molefe was already at home at the infamous Gupta compound in Saxonwold as early as 2008 and also a chilling account of Zuma’s unwillingness to resign even after the party that deployed him wanted him gone.
The memoir extracts in the Sunday Times and City Press provided a snapshot into the inner sanctum of the ANC at another dangerous period in SA’s history.
While it is in the past, these events hold lessons for the future.
Many, even in the ANC, are at a loss over Zuma’s plans for his party — some analysts argue that he is pushing for a “reverse takeover” of the ANC. Some argue that he wants the corruption charges against him dropped and then he will ride off into retirement somewhere, while a third scenario is that being a Zuma project, MK will die with him.
The first two scenarios do not add up when looked at through the prism of past experience with Zuma — it does not make sense for him — or anyone else to want to take over the ANC, a party in rapid decline trying to renew itself.
The chief risk is an SA falling back into the hands of Zuma or his allies who embody the destruction and ruin his presidency wrought on the country for more than a decade.
It would make more sense for Zuma’s MK to replace the ANC completely.
It explains why he keeps insisting that he remains a member. Like he cast himself as former president Thabo Mbeki’s victim to take over the ANC in 2005, he is now casting himself as the ANC’s victim to take over the country.
Doing so would render an end to his legal troubles — and that of his allies — moot.
He has made it clear that the “ANC of Ramaphosa” is no longer the ANC he recognises.
It would be difficult to imagine Zuma recognising an ANC led by anyone else but himself. A new political vehicle is the best route back into the presidency, which the likes of Molefe and the host of state capture accused turned MK parliamentarians are hoping for.
It is also not inconceivable that the Guptas remain in the wings, waiting for the realisation of that plan. MK does appear well funded despite protests to the contrary by its ordinary activists. How else would it be in the position to pay salaries to the likes of Floyd Shivambu, the former EFF deputy president who gave up his parliamentary post to work for Zuma full time. The same applies to disgraced former public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane, who also left the EFF to join MK.
On Monday, the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal held a briefing detailing the progress made by the “government of provincial unity” (GPU), which includes the IFP, ANC and DA.
The party in the province vehemently denied that the GPU was on shaky ground and moves were afoot to bring MK into the fold. This comes as MK activists in KwaZulu-Natal are pushing for the party to take control of the province.
But what happens if the ANC’s national executive committee in December decides to disband the ANC’s KwaZulu-Natal provincial leadership? This could cause ANC leaders to jump ship to MK and potentially shift the balance of forces ahead of the 2026 local government election.
The same applies to the ANC’s 2027 succession race. Its aftermath could cause many who lose out in the factional battle to jump ship.
The road ahead is full of Zuma-inspired potholes for the ANC. But the GNU’s failure to deliver results by the next election will be his ultimate draw card in ensuring MK replaces the ANC as the country’s largest political force.
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