From vendor finance to ATM - the rise of Mzwanele Manyi

It's official, Gupta vendor finance beneficiary Mzwanele Manyi has found a new home in the ATM. 

The former cabinet spokesperson announced on Wednesday that he had left the "fatigued and captured" ANC for the African Transformation Movement.

Manyi described 2018 as the year that "broke the camel's back" that pushed him out of the governing party.

According to Manyi, the ANC cannot be trusted as it has reneged on its own Nasrec conference resolutions.

He claimed the ANC was buying time on the land expropriation without compensation resolution while it abandoned the resolution to establish a state bank and nationalise the Reserve Bank.

"The ANC is tired. The ANC is fatigued. The ANC has reached a saturation point. The ANC has lost its hegemony. The ANC has lost its moral compass. The ANC is now actively reversing our gains," said Manyi.

"Let's allow the ANC to retire and usher in younger, fresh and uncaptured blood.

"Let's allow those without the Codesa baggage to lead. ATM is new and has no baggage of history of corruption or unfulfilled promises."

Manyi also said that ATM was a much-needed "breath of fresh air" in South African politics.

Manyi made headlines in 2017 when he bought the Gupta-owned ANN7 television station and The New Age newspaper for R450m through vendor financing. The media outlets were later shut down.