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The Citizen
4 hours ago
- The Citizen
ANC NEC meeting to discuss local government elections and GNU
The stability of the GNU will also be on the agenda at the NEC meeting. The ANC national executive committee (NEC) is scheduled to deliberate over the weekend on various issues, including discussing strategy on how to tackle the upcoming 2026 local government elections. Without a deep elaboration, an ANC source said the agenda would be full of matters of national and international importance. The source indicated that the pressure of increased tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump and the recognition of the Palestinian State will feature prominently on the NEC agenda. Poor election results The ANC is yet to recover from the May 2024 national election, where it received a paltry 40%, which forced it to cobble together a government of national unity (GNU) with at least 10 former opposition political parties. The loss of the parliamentary majority has the party searching for solutions to redirect the attention of disgruntled voters in its favour, as citizens seek alternatives after three decades of unmet promises by the ruling party. ALSO READ: Why the ANC remains a safe haven for corruption The party is faced with multiple crises. It had to shelve the NEC meeting recently amid an electoral loss in a Western Cape by-election. It also had to attend to a new crisis surrounding the suspension of Police Minister Senzo Mchunu, after KwaZulu-Natal provincial police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi accused him of interfering with criminal investigations. The allegations resulted in President Cyril Ramaphosa appointing a judicial commission of inquiry, chaired by Acting Deputy Chief Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, to probe the allegations of corruption in the criminal justice system. Stability of the GNU The stability of the GNU is another issue that causes sleepless nights for President Cyril Ramaphosa, as the DA continues to challenge some of the ANC's decisions. Unity within the GNU was tested once more when the DA threatened to rock the boat after the president fired the DA's Andrew Whitfield as deputy minister of trade, industry and competition in June. ALSO READ: Is GNU to blame for Powell's resignation as DA's international relations spokesperson? The ANC is also confronted by a possible split of its votes in future elections after the SACP decided to contest the 2026 local polls on its own. The SACP has not yet shown signs of reversing its decision despite increasing criticism from within the tripartite alliance. The NEC, to sit from Friday until Monday, will also evaluate its local government intervention strategy to improve service delivery. This entails undertaking a review of the 1998 Local Government White Paper to enhance the effectiveness of local government. ANC gains So far, its gains are the stabilisation of the national grid, with a 70% energy availability factor, representing a 48% improvement since 2023. 'Our work includes addressing the perennial problem of load reduction. The people have spoken, we listened, and acted,' a senior party source said. South Africa was also acknowledged for building social protection, achieving the sustainable development goals and curbing illicit capital flows as recognised by the G20 Skukuza Declaration. 'We go to the NEC meeting buoyed by the declaration of the Liberation Movement Summit which committed the liberation movements to the service of the people. The ANC will continue with its agenda of building a better Africa and a better world for a peaceful global order and pursuing new ventures in the space of bilateral relations and inclusive multilateralism. This geo-political shift presents plenty of opportunities for economic growth, prosperity and new partnerships,' the ANC member said. NOW READ: Liberation movements fighting for survival and new injustices
TimesLIVE
5 hours ago
- TimesLIVE
'Boy Mamabolo was my ice boy', says Malema
EFF leader Julius Malema has taken a swipe at former ANC MP Jacob Boy Mamabolo, claiming he was his 'ice boy' — a person who is broke and acts as an errands runner for wealthier friends. The two Seshego-born politicians go way back. They were in the ANC Youth League together, with Malema being the president until his expulsion in 2012. They also served together in the Congress of South African Students. In an interview with EWN, Malema said he used to send Mamabolo out to do things for him. 'To call [former EFF member Mbuyiseni] Ndlozi an ice boy was an extreme insult; he had a role to play, he was a spokesperson. Boy Mamabolo was my ice boy,' Malema said. 'I used to send him to fetch girls, send him to buy ice and alcohol. He didn't have an opinion, even now he doesn't have an opinion. He was useful for such things.'
Daily Maverick
5 hours ago
- Daily Maverick
Policing crisis is symptom of SA's transition into a violent democracy
South Africa has undergone a second transition, away from the ideals of a constitutional democracy, first into a gatekeeper state, and then increasingly into what academics call a 'violent democracy'. President Cyril Ramaphosa recently established a judicial commission of inquiry, chaired by Acting Deputy Chief Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, to investigate Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi's allegations that 'sophisticated criminal syndicates have infiltrated law enforcement and intelligence structures in South Africa'. Naturally, much of the attention has been on the toxic relationship between ANC politicians, corrupt businesspeople and the country's top police structures. However, while it is tempting to believe that this is just another example of the rot infecting the South African state, this would be a mistake, because these activities are not an aberration of South Africa's weak state but rather an outcome of the dysfunctional democratisation process that has unfolded in the country over the last few decades. Gatekeeper state In common with many other post-independent African states, South Africa transitioned from the horrors of colonialism and racism into being a gatekeeper state. In these fragile states, the control of access to wealth and power, rather than governance, is the ultimate political prize. Over time, state wealth and power are increasingly centralised and contested among the elites, while service delivery and governance for most of the population languish at the periphery. Political authority is therefore less about guiding national development and more about managing the intersection between internal resources and external recognition. At its core, a gatekeeper state revolves around who controls the 'gate'. In South Africa, this gate was historically guarded by the ANC so long as there was uncontested electoral recognition. Governance, in this framework, becomes a zero-sum game where controlling the gate is paramount because losing power means losing access to wealth. This has irredeemably reshaped the internal dynamics of the ANC, fuelling factionalism as different groups within the party compete for control of shrinking state resources. Consequently, the government is increasingly unable to meet its service delivery obligations because public office is not about public service but is instead a means of ensuring financial rewards, and because service delivery is not about optimal provision within the budgetary limits but is instead a means to garner political loyalty. Over time, as the ANC's factional battles worsened, the ANC's response has been to centralise control, consolidating authority in the Presidency, marginalising Parliament, and actively eroding independent institutions. However, as the ANC's electoral support has declined, gatekeeping, instead of weakening, has decentralised and now infects both formal and informal political-economic structures. The consequence of this system is neo-patrimonialism — ruling by patronage rather than by policy — that replaces governance as hollowed-out formal institutions are replaced with informal networks based on political allegiance and reciprocal favours. Loyalty is rewarded not through public service delivery or national development, but instead by access to tenders, jobs, and contracts. As the electorate loses faith in political leadership, political support is 'purchased' via patronage networks rather than earned through effective governance. Violent democracy The implications for South Africa's democratisation have been grim. In the years of the Zuma-Ramaphosa presidencies, South Africa has undergone a second transition, away from the ideals of a constitutional democracy, first into a gatekeeper state, and increasingly into what academics call a ' violent democracy '. This is not merely a democracy with violence. In this aberrant form of democracy, violence is an implicit part of the political system. Assassinations, intimidation and State Capture are features of how power is contested, contained, and controlled. In a violent democracy the state does not have the sole legitimate right to use violence — instead elite coalitions, criminal networks, and even taxi associations can use violence to capture and replace democratic governance. Naturally, as violent democracy deepens, constitutional democracy weakens. South Africa's democratic institutions, once the pride of our post-apartheid dispensation, are now infected with corruption, inefficiency and decay. The ANC cannot be reformed, but whether the Government of National Unity can resurrect the democratic institutions of accountability and reverse the country from its dark path remains to be seen. If not, then the dream of a free, fair, and equal South Africa will likely become just another casualty of rapacious greed. DM
