ANC’s ‘radical economic transformation’ faction in KwaZulu-Natal seeks new political home

Read More

The view of expelled ANC member Carl Niehaus, that a separate movement needs to be established to “salvage” the ANC’s historical mission, is shared by several party members in KwaZulu-Natal.

This is according to Nkosentsha Shezi, the chairperson of the ANC’s so-called radical economic transformation (RET) faction, whose camp is opposed to president’s Cyril Ramaphosa’s leadership.

“It’s a fact that the majority of ANC members, particularly here in KwaZulu-Natal, are devastated following Ramaphosa’s re-election,” said Shezi. 

“As the RET, we are concerned that the majority of the ANC members in KwaZulu-Natal will vote for opposition parties in 2024 if something is not done to reassure them that the ANC’s historic mission and the party’s resolutions, particularly around economic transformation, would be salvaged.”

Niehaus, who resigned a few days after the ANC national disciplinary committee resolved to expel him from the party, recently announced a new movement to accommodate party members unhappy with the direction the governing party was taking under Ramaphosa. 

“Comrades, this year we are going to continue to build a broad civil society, a broad political movement that will work for the full liberation of our people, that will also work for the liberation of those many comrades in the African National Congress who have been betrayed by a rogue, sell-out, white monopoly capitalist agent comprador capitalist group,” Niehaus said in a statement.

A staunch supporter of former president Jacob Zuma, Niehaus was part of the RET faction in the ANC wanting Ramaphosa removed at the party’s December national conference.

Although Shezi said Niehaus’s plans to launch a rival movement to the Ramaphosa-led ANC was the expelled party member’s “own personal initiative”, he added that members of the ANC’s RET faction were “considering various options”.

“If you look at the people who have been elected to leadership positions at the ANC national conference, most of them are Ramaphosa loyalists. This tells us that these people will fully participate in the project to sideline president Jacob Zuma; this will anger a lot of ANC voters in KwaZulu-Natal.

“As the RET, we have an obligation to provide the people of KwaZulu-Natal with an alternative political home ahead of next year’s national elections. We will definitely be making an announcement before the end of January,” said Shezi. 

He was speaking on the same day that the newly-elected ANC secretary general, Fikile Mbalula, said the party’s top brass was planning to hold a meeting with Zuma. 

The former president is attempting to bring a private prosecution against Ramaphosa for being an “accessory after the fact” to “crimes” Zuma alleges have been committed by state prosecutor Billy Downer. Zuma is also privately prosecuting Downer. Downer is the lead prosecutor in the arms deal graft case against Zuma and French company Thales.  

Shezi said the newly-elected ANC leadership was not sympathetic to Zuma. “There is no way in which they can make peace with president Zuma. Their mission is to undermine him in order to appease Ramaphosa.

“That’s why we are so disappointed with Ramaphosa’s re-election. It’s bad for the RET forces and president Zuma,” he said.

This story was first published in The Witness.