Cyril Ramaphosa in the RET crosshairs

President Cyril Ramaphosa is being targeted as part of a political agenda by his enemies intent on undermining and unseating him prior to the party’s national conference, political experts have said.

Both Cape Town-based political economy analyst Daniel Silke and political analyst Dr Ntsikelelo Breakfast, from Nelson Mandela University, believe the ongoing furore around Ramaphosa’s alleged past criminal activities had to do with the ANC factional battles.

His enemies know if he were to be criminally charged he would have to step aside in terms of ANC policy and unable to contest a second term as ANC president in December. That would also derail his ANC unity and renewal project.

“The political dynamics of the ANC are playing themselves out in public and we, as South Africans, are caught in the crossfire. You must remember that the ANC elective conference is around the corner,” Breakfast said.

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This whole episode shows the ANC is unable to run this country as they keep on fighting among themselves, he said.

He questioned former director-general of State Security Arthur Fraser’s motive to only lay criminal charges against Ramaphosa now and not in the past. “Why was he quiet for such a long time if he knows what happened (on the President’s farm)? Why has he only laid charges now and not at the time these allegations happened.

“I’m not saying the president must be insulated from criminal charges, but it’s clear that people are playing factional politics here,” Breakfast said.

This week, Fraser laid charges of money laundering, market manipulation and bribery against Ramaphosa at the Rosebank police station. He claimed the president concealed a robbery at his farm in Limpopo and bribed the robbers who were caught to silence them.

Breakfast said the radical economic transformation (RET) faction was trying to find fault with the president so as to nail him to the mast. He said Ramaphosa was the target of a renewed political campaign unleashed and disguised as a public response to Jacob Zuma’s jailing in mid-2021.

The July 2021 unrest, which was marked by looting and burning of property in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng and the subsequent burning down of parliament, did not just happen on their own, but were clearly part of a strategy to destabilise Ramaphosa’s leadership, Breakfast said.

Those responsible did this at the expense of the country. “The Zuma faction has a mission to unleash this campaign against Ramaphosa; they want to dislodge him by all means,” Breakfast said.

Silke echoed Breakfast’s sentiments, adding the present turmoil in the ANC was aimed at weakening Ramaphosa and eliminate him as a contender for the ANC presidency.

“It’s a plan to unseat him. It’s open season by those who feel wronged and threatened by Ramaphosa, to act now before the ANC national conference. There is a sort of agenda to raise all sorts of scandals, but he could wear a suit of honour against these attempts.”

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Breakfast said while it was clear that ANC infighting was at play, the law must take its course if there was any evidence of wrongdoing by Ramaphosa.

Silke said if Ramaphosa was charged, it would seriously affect his image and political standing. “That would be the first prize for the RET faction. It would pull the carpet from under his feet; it will weaken him and the whole renewal project would unravel. It will undermine the whole credibility of the ANC going forward,” Silke said.

He said the ANC had reached the cut-throat stage of its infighting – members were mercilessly attacking one another without concern for the party’s and the country’s future.

“The factions are prepared to stab each other in the back for short term political gains,” Silke said.

Breakfast said the situation would further destabilise the ANC going forward.