Ousted former African National Congress mayors and councillors in the North West have been accused of infiltrating the South African National Civic Organisation as a way of getting back at the ANC. But the allegations, made in a Sanco document sent to the ANC for response, also indicate deep divisions within the civic organisation.
Divisions in the African National Congress are being galvanised by a crisis of self-definition and have created a vacuum in the party — a vacuum that the South African Communist Party has moved to fill by suggesting that unless the SACP decisively intervenes, the needs of the poor will never be met.
”The African National Congress Youth League is there to adopt radical, militant positions that the ANC can only contemplate … Youth must never be paralysed by fear. The role of youth is to respond radically and sharply, but with an understanding of the bigger picture.”
Minister of Intelligence Ronnie Kasrils has come out guns blazing against allegations that he and others are plotting against a Jacob Zuma presidency. In a long and frank interview with the <i>Mail & Guardian</i>, Kasrils said the claim that the Zuma rape charge was a "honey trap" by his enemies was a "ludicrous figment of imagination".
Hundreds of women dressed in blue and white church uniforms, green and black African National Congress Women’s League gear and new yellow Women’s League T-shirts had just finished singing songs honouring Thabo Mbeki. ”50/50 re a rata / Hela Basadi / Thabo Mbeki re mo ratile [We love the ANC’s 50% gender balance / We women / We love Thabo Mbeki],” they sang.
Close political allies of African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma are preparing to relaunch his presidential campaigns in a series of tripartite alliance forums in the next few months. These campaigns include pressing for his reinstatement as South Africa’s deputy president if he is cleared of the corruption charges, or the charges are thrown out on an application planned by his defence.
The peer review system established under the African Union cracks the mould of continental politics. For the first time, African leaders agreed to submit governance to internal and external checks and balances. Recently South Africa tabled its first self-assessment report at a meeting in Kliptown — the venue at which the Freedom Charter was drawn up.
In 23 days, the Jacob Zuma rape trial has shaken our world. Regardless of the outcome, we are in an altered state. The political damage is incalculable, with the ruling African National Congress now an openly divided and faltering movement. This has had a domino effect on the South African Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions.
The South African Communist Party (SACP) is battling to contain serious internal divisions over the party’s stance on African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma, with rumours circulating that next year’s SACP congress will be used to weed out the anti-Zuma lobby in the party.
The African National Congress e-mail spy saga has widened the ugly developing rift between President Thabo Mbeki and the party’s secretary general, Kgalema Motlanthe. The differences over the authenticity of the e-mails are seen as a microcosm of a new struggle between the two.