The African Transformation Movement (ATM) has replaced its long-standing president, Vuyolwethu Zungula. (@ATMovement_SA/Twitter)
In less than five years, African Transformation Movement (ATM) leader Vuyo Zungula has cemented his role in today’s body politic.
The young leader who rose from obscurity as the president of a church-based party — which at its inception was marred by ANC factional battles — is arguably the face of parliament’s debate on the Phala Phala scandal which saw President Cyril Ramaphosa suffer reputational damage.
Through the ATM, Zungula was elected to parliament in 2019 with 76,830 votes, making up 0.44% of the electorate and taking two of the 400 seats in the National Assembly. He is hoping to take this growth to even greater heights in next year’s general elections.
This time with a parliamentary track record of having been the loudest advocate for impeached public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane and the ANC’s fiercest rival in the Phala Phala scandal, Zungula wants more than just the two seats the electorate awarded to his party in 2019.
Another strategic move by the ATM leader was aligning with bigger and much more influential parties such as the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).
With the help of other smaller parties in parliament such as the Pan African Congress and the United Democratic Party (UDM), Zungula’s party is likely to play a kingmaker role should the ANC find itself on the back foot and lose its majority next year.
“We can never contest elections for the sake of contesting. We are there to get the maximum we can get. Now when it comes to growth, fortunately, we got a platform in parliament for us to actually be known, raise issues, and be popular so that we can guarantee growth,” he told the Mail & Guardian in an interview.
“But what we don’t do as the ATM is to put figures, to put seeds to say we’re aiming for 100% growth. From time to time, when we are in these public spaces, we meet people and they say they are going to support us; ours is to just focus on the machinery at our structures, build relations,” Zungula said.
“We’ve been building strong relations with churches, chiefs, community organisations and society in general by raising issues. There’s going to be definite growth.”
While Zungula does not shy away from taking credit for highlighting Phala Phala in parliament, he is quick to share with the M&G that this is not the only agenda the ATM has pushed in the legislature.
“So in my view, there’s a balance between the role we played in making sure the president accounts for Phala Phala and the bread and butter issues we’ve been raising,” he said.
“Most of the time when I engage with people, they are happy with us articulating the problems using simplistic language, language they can understand and dealing with the bread and butter issues. Then the questions of Phala Phala, they appreciate because over and above what we’ve done, it actually shows that we’re able to hold the most powerful people to account.”
Key provinces including KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng are likely to see coalitions taking over after the 2024 elections. According to a poll by the Social Research Foundation, the ANC’s support will dip to 42% in the event of a 66% voter turnout. But this decreases to 39% on a turnout of 59% and reduces further to 38% if the turnout is 52%.
In the provincial ballot, the ANC is unlikely to reclaim its majority in KwaZulu-Natal with or without a high turnout of voters, the poll found. It suggested the ANC would lose its majority, receiving 40% with a 66% turnout and 41% with a low turnout of 49% of voters.
KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng account for the lion’s share of the ANC’s voters. In 2021, the ANC received 5.25 million votes, with more than two million of them coming from the two provinces. This translates to 37.7% of the ANC’s national vote.
In 2019, the ANC received a little over 10 million votes, of which 4.44 million came from Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, the equivalent of 44.3% of the voter share.
The ATM was elected into government in Mogale City with the support of the ANC and the EFF. With the emergence of the multiparty coalition which aims to unseat the ANC and ensure the EFF — ATM’s strongest ally — does not make it to government, the party is likely to join forces with these parties next year.
Zungula said while ATM had not had formal engagement with any party regarding coalitions, there had been informal discussions with UDM and EFF leaders.
“Obviously there are a lot of things at stake. People are used to being presidents, they’re used to having all of these things they have, but we’re saying at the bare minimum, we must protect each other when it comes to elections. If you are there [at vote counting] as someone from the PAC, protect ATM votes in an area where we don’t have agents. Let’s not only start working together after the elections,” he said.
Another prominent name in the ATM, Mzwanele Manyi, defected to the EFF, becoming a member of parliament in the red beret benches.
Zungula is said to have been relieved by Manyi’s decision. The controversial Manyi, who was linked to the Gupta family implicated in state capture, also holds a position as the spokesperson of former president Jacob Zuma’s foundation.
“The best we could do is to accept and wish him well. Otherwise, that is not a sign of problems in the ATM,” Zungula said of Manyi.
In 2019, News24 reported that former ANC secretary general Ace Magashule was suspected of having played a key role in the formation of ATM and was even believed to have recommended that the word “movement” be included as part of the party’s name. The ANC investigation failed to find any evidence against Magashule.
In August, Sunday World reported that ANC whistleblower advocate Winston Erasmus had written to ANC Western Cape secretary Neville Delport, detailing how a “special operations” project known to Ramaphosa had infiltrated the electoral commission to gather data on the ATM.
Zungula said he believed that the allegations around the formation of his party would continue to haunt it in the 2024 elections, adding that he partly blamed the media’s coverage of the ATM-ANC scandal.
“A lot of people believe that once you hold Mr Ramaphosa accountable you are RET (the ANC’s radical economic transformation faction). It even goes to journalists. Once a journalist asks Ramaphosa tough questions they are labelled as RET. That speaks to society and how it’s polarised. Yes, we will be hurt in the polls because there are such people.”
Zungula said while he was open to talks with the ANC for a possible coalition after the 2024 elections, he would not want Ramaphosa as its leader.
“He has been president since 2018, it’s been five years now. If you had to look seriously at what has transpired in these five years, we would be betraying our people if we had to say he must get another five years,” he said, adding that the ATM supported Ramaphosa when he was elected by parliament but this support had fallen away over the president’s poor performance.