ANC dirty campaign hits Cyril
Ramaphosa’s staff targeted
AROGUE intelligence report calling for a “surveillance operation” on Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa’s campaign to become head of state has surfaced, hot on the heels of failed attempts to remove President Jacob Zuma.
The poorly worded three-page document, which The Star has seen, calls for a budget of R1.5 million to, among other things, conduct surveillance on those described as running Ramaphosa’s campaign to become the next president.
The surveillance is aimed at establishing how Ramaphosa’s campaign is funded, and seeks to look into stateowned enterprises.
Those targeted include, among others, Ramaphosa’s political adviser Steyn Speed, ANC head of economic policy Enoch Godongwana, Behaviour Change Agency founder Pat Govender and former National Prosecuting Authority chief executive Marion Sparg.
Sparg is a former Umkhonto weSizwe guerrilla who wrote a letter to Zuma in 2014 and called on him to resign over the Nkandla security upgrades scandal.
ANC national executive committee member Philly Mapulane is said to be the chairperson of Ramaphosa’s campaign.
The dubious report says the surveillance operation has to be “highly confidential”, recommends that the investigation be concluded “swiftly by October” and says a total budget of R1.5m was required.
“Further investigations by the following State Security Agencies, SARS/FIC (Financial Intelligence Centre) and departments must zero in on the campaign kingpin Marion Sparg. Furthermore we request to obtain permission to embark on a surveillance operation around Sparg, as she will lead us further.”
Godongwana dismissed the report as part of a dirty tricks campaign ahead of the ANC elective conference in December,
Zuma wants former AU Commission chairperson Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma to succeed him.
Mapulane denied that he was the chairperson of Ramaphosa’s bid for the presidency.
“I, however, associate myself with and support the perspective in our organisation that argues that the deputy president of the ANC, Comrade Cyril Ramaphosa, must ascend to the position of president of the ANC at our 54th national conference in December 2017,” he said.
“Contrary to what some in our organisation conveniently argue, ever since the position of deputy president was created, history and tradition has always dictated that the deputy president succeeds the president.”
Mapulane, who is also chairperson of Parliament’s portfolio committee on environmental affairs, decried the use of state resources to target political opponents, saying the practice had started before the ANC conference in Polokwane.
“Those of our comrades who are in charge of this institution must be warned never to allow this treasonous practice to happen within their portfolios, as seems to be the case with this rogue intelligence report.”
When contacted for comment, Speed said: “I am the political adviser to the deputy president of the country; as such, I have no mandate to provide comment to the media on political matters, either on or off the record.”
Govender said he had not seen the report. “I have not seen any such report. I certainly am not spearheading the campaign for Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa to become the next president.”
State Security Minister David Mahlobo’s spokesperson Brian Dube dismissed the report as rubbish. “This poorly worded document, (which is) full of grammatical errors, could have been written by anyone.”
Sparg could not be reached for comment.
The report comes a few days after Zuma narrowly escaped a vote of no-confidence against him, which was conducted through a secret ballot, in the National Assembly.
Of 384 MPs who voted, 177 wanted Zuma to go, while 198 rejected the motion. Nine MPs abstained.
The opposition parties hold 151 seats in the National Assembly.
This means as many as 35 ANC MPs voted with their conscience, marking the first time in the history of the country’s democracy that ANC legislators voted with the opposition for the removal of their sitting president.
The dubious report mirrors the one allegedly used by Zuma to fire Pravin Gordhan and Mcebisi Jonas as finance minister and deputy respectively.
The so-called intelligence report, which was also ridden with grammatical errors, alleged that the pair had planned to use their European and American tour to mobilise the markets against the South African government.
ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said at the time that Zuma had told them that he used the intelligence report to fire Gordhan. But the president later denied he had based his decision to fire Gordhan and Jonas on the questionable report.
EKURHULENI became a political battleground when presidential hopefuls Cyril Ramaphosa and Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma visited the region on the campaign trail yesterday.
The two leaders were literally a few kilometres apart, with Ramaphosa addressing supporters during a memorial lecture on Oliver Tambo in Tembisa, while Dlamini Zuma addressed a prayer gathering against child and woman abuse in Germiston.
Ramaphosa, who called for the ANC not to be handed over to thieves, was with ANC Gauteng provincial secretary Hope Papo; ANC MP and former Ekurhuleni mayor Mondli Gungubele, a fierce critic of President Jacob Zuma; and Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi, among others.
Dlamini Zuma was accompanied by ANC Women’s League president Bathabile Dlamini, ANC Youth League secretary-general Njabulo Nzuza and MK Military Veterans Association spokesperson Carl Niehaus.
Ekurhuleni is the only region in Gauteng that supports Zuma, through his ally and current mayor Mzwandile Masina.
Ramaphosa said the region was important as it was the industrial hub and economic engine of the province.
He admitted that the ANC was currently at its lowest ebb, due to factionalism, corruption and tardy policy implementation.
He said the ANC needed to get into top gear and implement party decisions in government after the ANC elective conference in December, where Zuma is expected to step down as party leader.
Ramaphosa lashed out against state capture by Zuma’s controversial friends the Guptas, saying corruption had become entrenched in the public sector and the country generally.
“This is where state capture has been happening with debilitating effects and where resources have been misplaced, looted and stolen. This is where money has been disappearing.
“We are saying we want our money back. Money that has been given out without good reason must be brought back,” he said to loud applause.
The ANC should not claim victory when poverty, inequality and unemployment were still embedded in society, the deputy president added.
Ramaphosa called for radical economic transformation to address the problem.
Dlamini Zuma, however, insisted that radical economic transformation would be
We need land, not just for our people, but for women
instrumental in levelling the economic playing field.
“The ANC said the land must be returned to the people; the Freedom Charter states that the land must be returned to those who live on it.
“We need land, not just for our people but for women as well, because we have the responsibilities of taking care of families, and it isn’t easy,” she said.
“When we talk about transformation, we are saying that everybody has the right to be in these spaces, and women should be at the forefront.”
In Tembisa, Ramaphosa chastised comrades who were using the ANC as a vehicle for self-enrichment and said ANC members needed to reclaim the governing party from such people.
“We need to have comrades who are not going to serve any other interests but the interests of the movement. We need comrades who won’t serve the interests of their families,” he said, calling for the renewal of the organisation.
“Let’s take the ANC to where it belongs and make sure the ANC emerges as the best organisation the country has ever seen.
“Our people are not fools; they want a strong, decisive and powerful ANC that will take clear decisions,” he said.
He also spoke of the need to unite the party leadership. “The factions must end.”