ANC in high stakes game of chess

There are clear indications that President Cyril Ramaphosa is not comfortable in the highest position in his party, the ANC.

As it happens in chess, before you touch the king you start with the queen, so those targeting Ramaphosa are going after minister Pravin Gordhan first.

South Africans should gear up to witness the ANC tearing itself apart, with warring factions at each other’s throats over the control of resources.

There is nothing that Gordhan has done at Eskom that warrants his removal so far. Former Eskom chair of the board, Jabu Mabuza, has already resigned, accepting responsibility for the mess happening at Eskom, so those baying for Gordhan’s head want Ramaphosa indirectly.

The controversial statement uttered by deputy president of ANC and the country, David Mabuza, that the president was misled about loadshedding, was a political statement to undermine Gordhan.

It was a political calculation designed to put President Ramaphosa in a corner where he either has to fire Gordhan or run the risk of being painted as a lapdog of white monopoly capital.

Ramaphosa triumphed at the Nasrec conference by the narrowist margin, so he has always been vulnerable in his effort to consolidate power.

The rumours that some want to boot him out in the national general council may appear unlikely but it is possible.

His grip on power is weak so the possibility to test him in the NGC may be possible without any fear of a backlash, unlike during Jacob Zuma’s era where any mob would have thought of political ramifications before trying him.

Rofhiwa Phaswana, Thohoyandou