Hlokomelo Mabogale
There is a saying that when two bulls are fighting, the grass suffers the most. When top leadership is “fighting” against each other, ordinary citizens on the ground suffers.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has taken a unique way of fighting corruption within the ruling party. In a letter dated 23 August 2020, Ramaphosa wrote that there is an increase in corruption within the ANC. In-putting a remedy to that, he said members “must change their ways or they must leave.”
However, this didn’t sit well with former President Jacob Zuma. In his capacity as an ordinary ANC member, Zuma accused Ramaphosa of lacking communication in the ANC.
“Your letter betrays a lack of understanding of how the leadership of the ANC should communicate with its structure,” Zuma wrote in reply to Ramaphosa. Zuma further stated it is “unjustified” for ANC and its members to be painted with a corrupt brush because of a “few individuals that have access to the state power and its resources as well as ANC leadership positions.”
Zuma also touched on the “foreign” culture in the ANC of a candidate being backed up by “White Monopoly Capital” with money to win an election. “Mr. President (Ramaphosa), you currently stand accused of having received almost R1 billion in donations from White Monopoly Capital just to win an internal ANC contest.” Ramaphosa has successfully sealed his CR17 campaign bank statement in which money came in then deposited to some leaders.
This does not appease Zuma as he challenges both Ramaphosa and the National Executive Committee to ‘come clean’.
“Until you, Mr President and your National Executive Committee come clean to the ordinary members of our movement, your letters and statements will be construed as your attempts to appease those who, by their ill-gotten riches, catapulted you into the position you hold in your movement.”
