INSIDE ACE’S FIGHTBACK CAMPAIGN

The ANC secretary-general is running out of time to shore up a power base before he’s forced to step down from his position. His RET faction is, it seems, looking to sow confusion to buy him some time

ropaganda, confusion and deception would seem to be at the heart of Ace Magashule’s strategy this month, as the clock ticks down to his near-inevitable removal as ANC secretary-general.

Magashule and his radical economic transformation (RET) faction are hard at work in an attempt to turn his fortunes around, if the plethora of propaganda that’s been leaked in the past week is anything to go by.

This included the speaking notes for former president Jacob Zuma’s soliloquy to the top six officials of the ANC, in which he bashed the judiciary.

Then there’s the leaked recording of the meeting, in which deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte appears to defend Zuma and demonise the judiciary, including chief justice Mogoeng Mogoeng and his deputy Raymond Zondo. The recording was sent out alongside a video interview in which an unknown person makes unsubstantiated allegations that Zondo accepted a bribe.

The propaganda arm is, it seems, ticking along strongly — long after the departure of notorious PR firm Bell Pottinger.

Magashule has also used ANC platforms to hit out at his detractors.

But on Monday, the ANC’s national working committee (NWC) “called him to order” for his “divisive” comments.

The FM understands Magashule received a dressing-down by the NWC over his comments in Soweto last week, where he spoke of divisions in the party’s top structures.

“We are divided as the top six, the NWC is divided, the national executive committee [NEC] is divided. When the ANC is divided,

Psociety is going to be divided,” Eyewitness News quoted him as saying.

Senior party leaders, speaking on condition of anonymity, say Magashule is using his office to deceive and confuse structures of the ANC.

In a letter this week, the secretary-general called on all party structures to submit to his office the names of those who face charges or serious allegations.

This comes on the back of lists, apparently circulated by his supporters, of those whose names should be submitted for “bringing the ANC into disrepute”. The names of President Cyril Ramaphosa, party chair Gwede Mantashe, treasurer-general Paul Mashatile and NEC members Pravin Gordhan and Derek Hanekom feature on those lists.

They also include the names of NEC members and Ramaphosa allies Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, Mondli Gungubele, David Masondo, Zizi Kodwa, Fikile Mbalula, David Makhura, Ronald Lamola and Blade Nzimande.

“They are trying to agitate to add this one and that one … but the constitution of the ANC is clear in rule 25.70: if you are indicted, you step aside,” a senior party leader tells the FM. “What he [Magashule] is doing now is to try to confuse the structures.”

The step-aside guidelines adopted by the party are specific about how different categories of allega

What it means: As Magashule faces removal, his backers are going all out to win support with a strategy of confusion and distortion

tions should be dealt with. Magashule falls into the category of those who have been indicted, and he therefore should step down or face suspension.

“It is very specific; it is about those who are charged,” another NEC member says.

This is not the first time Magashule has written to ANC structures asking for the names of those charged with or facing serious allegations of corruption. According to insiders, he has done so before — but after structures submitted those names, he did not act on them.

The secretary-general is putting on a brave face. Speaking in Kliptown last week, he defended the RET faction and was adamant that the group is simply articulating ANC policy — despite being effectively banned by an NEC decision.

But more NEC members who disagree with

Magashule are breaking their silence, following Joel Netshitenzhe’s column on the Daily Maverick website last month.

In a post shared on political WhatsApp groups, ANC NEC member

Nkenke Kekana reflects on the “vulgar Marxism and the distortions of ANC economic policy” by the RET faction.

“Like the Marxist workers tendency [MWT] before, the RET is an opportunist tendency that seeks to detract from and distort ANC economic policy,” he writes, referring to the group that emerged inside the ANC in the late 1970s, pushing for a socialist programme. It left the party with the adoption of the growth, employment & redistribution (Gear) policy, though some remnants remain.

“While the MWT [supporters] were Trotskyites, it is not clear what RET stands for apart from their preaching and using revolutionary sounding words that often lack ideological clarity.”

Kekana says there is a significant difference between the “RET” proclaimed by the group and the actual radical socioeconomic transformation policy the ANC adopted at its Nasrec conference in late 2017.

“Economic transformation without factoring in socioeconomic issues like culture, education, unemployment, corruption and discrimination is reactionary and only seeks to narrow transformation to a simple question of economics,” he writes.

The party is not, he says, concerned with the structure of the economy — the “production, distribution, consumption of goods and services” — at the expense of socioeconomic factors.

“The ANC is not about replacing white capitalists with black capitalists … the radical transformation of the SA economy must benefit the people as a whole and specifically address the triple challenges of inequality, poverty and unemployment.”

He concludes by describing the RET faction as a “dangerous reformist tendency, sugar-coated in revolutionary jargon, seeking to destroy the ANC from within”.

“These wedge drivers must be uprooted without any hesitation.”

But Magashule’s faction will fight hard to keep him in arguably the most powerful office in the organisation — particularly with a string of branch elective meetings and regional and provincial conferences on the cards in the coming months.

The RET grouping will likely use these elective gatherings to flood structures with their loyalists in an attempt to win back the ANC at its national elective conference next year, or to push for a special conference at the upcoming national general council.

The removal of Magashule from the secretary-general’s office will hobble this effort.

Magashule’s backers say there’s still the option of taking the matter to court, should their attempts to prevent his suspension fail. They believe this would delay his exit for long enough to allow him to influence key elective conferences, including one to elect new leaders in Mpumalanga in May.

But the faction was dealt a further blow this week after the Supreme Court of Appeal set aside the provincial conference outcomes in the Free State, which had installed Magashule’s staunch ally and former unionist Sam Mashinini as provincial chair. This effectively neutralises any potential support Magashule could receive from what was once his power base.

Another ANC leader, Northern Cape provincial chair and premier Zamani Saul, writing for Eyewitness News last week, cautions the RET brigade is not just a faction or lobby group inside the ANC, but a “sample of the establishment of a new political party” that could emerge properly when the fightback strategy fails.

“The RET grouping is still within the ANC for now only because it is calculating the exit costs,” Saul writes. “Calculating these costs is no easy undertaking and needs time, as there are many variables at play. The strategy therefore is to use the ANC womb to incubate this new political party until the timing is right to cut the umbilical cord for its independent existence.”

Magashule’s fight is set to keep Ramaphosa and his allies busy for a while yet, but what is clear right now is that the clock is ticking — and he may well find himself shut out of Luthuli House by the end of the month.

[The RET faction is a] dangerous reformist tendency, sugarcoated in revolutionary jargon, seeking to destroy the ANC from within

Nkenke Kekana