Analyst warns of leadership vacuum in ANC without Ramaphosa

RECALLING President Cyril Ramaphosa might leave the ANC without a capable leader to take it forward, said political analyst Susan Booysen.

- BONGANI HANS

Booysen was responding to reports that the ANC will investigate allegations that Deputy Minister of Communication Mondli Gungubele and Deputy Health Minister Joe Phaahla were behind a plot to oust Ramaphosa before the end of his term as the ANC president.

Both Gungubele and Phaahla, who backed Ramaphosa to be elected ANC president in 2017 and 2022, have since distanced themselves from the plot.

The report of the plot came while the ANC was preparing to hold its National General Council (NGC), which will start on Monday.

Ramaphosa’s leadership was marred by the ANC's poor performance in last year’s general elections, which saw it for the first time since 1994 scoring less than 50%, leading to the formation of the multiparty Government of National Unity.

The party also lost control of the KwaZulu-Natal government, which is now led by IFP provincial chairperson Thami Ntuli.