Lie-sufi dreams bad for GNU

Panyaza Lesufi is Lie-sufi when he asserts there are no factions in the ANC. But the anti-GNU (government of national unity) Gauteng premier is playing a long game.

- Martin Williams

The Tshwane mayorship and the 2026 local government elections are mere steppingstones to the 2027 ANC elective conference.

Lesufi's faction wants to depose President Cyril Ramaphosa by 2027 at the latest.

No ANC president has served two full terms as South African president.

In July, Lesufi defied pro-GNU leaders in the ANC by refusing to give the DA any meaningful role in his provincial Cabinet.

He also publicly gave a PW Botha-like finger-waving instruction to Ramaphosa to sign the Basic Education Law Amendment Bill. Last week he brushed off a request to withdraw a no-confidence motion against Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink. Emboldened, he is attacking Ramaphosa's GNU partners.

Lesufi's ego is in full bloom.