Division within ANC deepens as party leaders challenge Government of National Unity

There is growing opposition to the Government of National Unity (GNU) from within the ANC’s ranks and from its alliance partner, the SACP.

Sources in the party said that there is disgruntlement within the party from its highest decision making body, the National Executive Committee, to branch level at the decision to form the coalition after the May 29 elections.

The issue of the party’s role in the GNU has been put in the spotlight by two senior leaders, former KwaZulu-Natal Premier Willies Mchunu and Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi.

Mchunu in a letter to the ANC last week, announced that he was resigning as a member of the party, saying the formation of the GNU and government of provincial unity (GPU) had led him to believe that he could no longer add value to the party.

The former KZN premier and South African Communist Party stalwart said that he believed that the ANC should have not entered into a coalition to form the GNU and he was hurt by the criticism he received when he raised this view within the party.

Lesufi has been involved in several public spats, including one with the DA’s Helen Zille, after she claimed he undermined the GNU coalition by orchestrating the removal of Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink.

Zille is reported to have said that Lesufi was summoned on Monday to explain his comments and what he had said and done, adding that there are huge tensions and differences of opinion about how to proceed with the coalition.

Reports indicate that ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula demanded an explanation from Lesufi, particularly concerning comments that seemed to undermine the ANC’s coalition with the DA. Lesufi had also been compared to the SACP’s Solly Mapaila, a vocal critic of the GNU arrangement.

Lesufi on Tuesday told a national broadcaster that the decision on who the ANC would partner with in Tshwane would be left to the party’s national leadership.

“These things are discussed at a national level, contrary to those who are throwing insults. After the meeting with the national leadership today we will then start a process of meeting each and every single political party that wants to work with us, work with us or not be part of the government,” Lesufi said about the mayorship of Tshwane. Mbalula, during a media briefing on Tuesday, said they had called Lesufi for a meeting after media reports had suggested that he was critical of the party’s coalition decisions.

“The GNU and coalitions in their very nature bring together rivals and people who are not ideologically aligned. We have brought together all these parties who have agreed to participate, with the DA and others and our collaborations extend to the (provincial) legislatures,” Mbalula said.

He said Lesufi had not been called to a disciplinary hearing but the party wanted to engage with him.

“There is no position of the ANC that says the GNU is a sell-out position...populism that is perpetrated by others, not Panyaza, say that the GNU is a sell out position.

“We have not sanctioned Panyaza but engaged with him as a leader.”

Mbalula said the coalition was a tactical choice made by the party after it did not achieve a majority vote at the May 29 election. An ANC source said Lesufi’s sentiments on the GNU reflected the frustration of party members who remain uncomfortable with a coalition with the DA.

“Panyaza is the only leader in Gauteng who is willing to speak out about the unease felt with this coalition but there are others who are not happy – from the NEC level to branches – and feel the decision to get into bed with this coalition was a unilateral decision taken at the top.”

Political analyst Professor Ntsikelelo Breakfast said the ANC at the moment appeared to be divided in two.

“There is discontent about the way things should be and there are some who believe the ANC is working with the DA, a so-called reactionary party that is opposed to transformation.

“There is an appreciation that the ANC could have worked with the EFF or the MK Party to form a coalition government.”

He said the success of the GNU will depend on Ramaphosa’s faction holding onto power at next year’s national general conference and at the party’s elective conference in 2026.

“With Lesufi, the test is where does one draw the line between freedom of expression and democratic centralism and it is applicable to this context because the GNU debate was not exhausted, it was a decision made from the top.

“Conflict will escalate and will worsen the state of the ANC,” Breakfast said.

The Mercury