Could Lesufi be spearheading a 5th column within ANC?

If Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi is a loyal ANC cadre, why did he twice announce media briefings to unveil his government of provincial unity (GPU), only to postpone on instructions from his party’s national leadership?

Did he not clear the details in advance? What message is he trying to send, to whom, and why? If he did not have his GPU vetted, Lesufi should not have scheduled a launch for 7pm on Monday night, eight days after a similar call was abandoned.

It was widely known there was no agreement between the DA and the ANC in Gauteng to form a provincial government. If Lesufi proceeded, the DA would be excluded.

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As the DA holds 22 of the 80 Gauteng legislature seats, such exclusion would go against the spirit of the government of national unity announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa. Lesufi knew this, yet he seems to be in denial.

He didn’t cancel the briefing. Instead, he sent flunkies Gauteng ANC chair TK Nciza and ANC provincial head of elections Lebogang Maile to fend off media questions.

At a trite level, Maile and Nciza exhibited the now-familiar trait whereby the ANC fails to grasp how far it has fallen, especially in Gauteng, where it scraped under 35% in the 29 May elections.

Lesufi would not be premier if the DA had not voted for him. Yet Maile showed zero humility.

Describing the DA as spoilt brats, he added: “We invited everybody to come because in terms of the votes, we are above every other political party “This GNU and GPU are an ANC concept.”

In other words, we are the big guys, we’re in charge, this is our idea. We call the shots. That’s no way to build unity.

However, something else may be going on. Lesufi has played a leading role in helping arrange the looting coalitions which have collapsed service delivery in Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni.

Without him, it is unlikely the ANC in these metros would have teamed up with the EFF and the Patriotic Alliance to topple the DA. Not everyone in the ANC has been happy with these coalitions which Lesufi engineered. Lesufi may be trying to bring his more radical friends closer.

“Goolam” a character on X, who gained a reputation for accurate inside information during the elections and the GNU negotiations, asked on Monday night: “Is Gauteng ANC working with Jacob Zuma and Julius Malema to collapse the government of national unity?”

ALSO READ: WATCH: ‘Lesufi in denial that voters rejected him and ANC’ – DA

To which DA federal council chair Helen Zille responded: “Very good question.” I’ll wager that could be what is happening here.

Lesufi may be part of a fifth column within the ANC. Dictionary.com defines a fifth column as a group of people who act traitorously and subversively out of a secret sympathy with an enemy.

In this case the enemy is the radical left – Julius Malema’s EFF and Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe Party – who are implacably opposed to Ramaphosa and the GNU.

uMkhonto is Zulu for spear. Could Lesufi be spearheading a 5th column within the ANC? And will investigative journalists be able to unmask the unerring Goolam?