As much of a rout it may be, it’s manna for Zuma’s ANC opponents

opportunities in return for votes may be on offer, will be bombarded by the message on public platforms that Zuma has sold our country and stolen national resources.

Could the push-back against the Guptas be powerful enough to dislodge the Zuma clique, including his anointed successor, DlaminiZuma? With money politics dominant in the ANC and a conference where delegates are known to receive favours including cash to vote the right way, there is only one way in which Cyril Ramaphosa could win the ANC leadership race against the alliance of Dlamini-Zuma and the unsavoury line-up of provincial chairmen.

If it is assumed Ramaphosa could not, or would not stump up the money needed to pay delegates, he would have to get the numbers at conference by fomenting rebellion among the ANC rank-and-file.

The offering would be to reform and rid the ANC of corruption; to put in place new measures of accountability so that the wealth and assets of all ANC leaders are publicly known. It would also be to rid the government of the looters and the incompetents and seek to put in place measures that would bring more black people into the mainstream economy, through genuine redress measures.

This is a value offering that would appeal to many of the ANC faithful who haven’t been able to get over the psychological hump and vote for an opposition party.

There is also a growing convergence between the interests of the Ramaphosa camp and those of important and powerful stakeholders in society. This includes organised business, labour, the political opposition, professionals and the public.

Significantly, for the first time since the democratic transition, the business community has begun to fully comprehend the consequences of a failed transformation project.

So have labour and the ANC’s left allies, which have come to appreciate that far more important than radical rhetoric and abstract commitment to a revolution, the priority is now to protect the liberal democratic institutions created by the Constitution.