It may be too late for Cyril to stop the Zuma rot

14 May 2018 - 06:26 By justice malala
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Cyril Ramaphosa’s support is still fragile despite many Jacob Zuma supporters within the ANC having embraced him.
Cyril Ramaphosa Cyril Ramaphosa’s support is still fragile despite many Jacob Zuma supporters within the ANC having embraced him.
Image: Gallo Images

The African National Congress is its own worst enemy. Presented by the breakthrough in December with a chance to rescue itself from decline‚ it chooses to engage in internal civil war and squander the chances to renew itself.

Given the gift of an inspirational and clear-eyed new leader in Cyril Ramaphosa‚ it chooses to try and collapse his new government.

The question now is whether we have underestimated the extent to which the rot has seeped into the marrow of Oliver Tambo’s party. Perhaps corruption‚ in-fighting and factionalism are so deeply embedded within the marrow of the party that the ANC cannot rescue itself and cannot even be made to resuscitate itself by the prospect of electoral defeat.

The ANC’s technocrats have sifted through research and have warned the party that it is in danger of losing power. In a document prepared ahead of the next provincial and national elections and published in part by the Sunday Times on Sunday‚ the technocrats warn that the ANC faces the clear and present danger of going into coalition with other parties to stay in power - or be relegated to the opposition benches.

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