ANC infighting is bad news for service delivery

Over the years the ANC has survived many scandals, as citizens continue placing their faith in it.

Among the scandals are the Marikana massacre and the state capture project.

It survived splinter groups leaving to establish the PAC, UDM, COPE and the EFF.

And now the fight for control of the ANC, and by extension SA, has moved up a notch as the power struggle between the President Cyril Ramaphosa faction and the secretary-general Ace Magashule grouping intensifies.

Ramaphosa is seen as leading the fight for moral regeneration and effectively the soul of the governing party.

On the other side Magashule, who has been implicated in wrongdoing in the Free State, where he was the premier, is believed to be leading the charge of those who want to see the back of Ramaphosa.

On Friday, convicted fraudster Tony Yengeni is said to have called for Ramaphosa to step down over allegations that he bought delegates at the 2017 ANC elective conference, when he beat Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to the party’s presidency.

The calls for Ramaphosa to step down have been a long time coming. The Magashule clique planned to remove him at the party’s national general council, which had to be shelved because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The truth of the matter is that the knives have been out for Ramaphosa since he was elected ANC president in December 2017.

But weakened as he has been, Ramaphosa has avoided the chop, and he told the ANC national executive committee (NEC) meeting at the weekend that he would subject himself to party processes by appearing before the integrity commission.

Whether Ramaphosa will be the third ANC president to be recalled since democracy dawned remains to be seen as the battle lines have clearly been drawn.

His detractors will keep coming while his supporters will continue defending him with everything they have.

This will contribute to the downward trajectory the ANC has been on in recent years.

Any honest ANC member or supporter will tell you the once-glorious liberation movement is a shadow of its former self, largely because of internal squabbles.

This is not about to change, judging by the reportedly heated national working committee and NEC meetings at the weekend.

This bodes well for opposition parties as a divided ANC means that instead of focusing on persuading the electorate to vote for the party, factions will put more energy into purging one another.

But this is bad news for citizens as service delivery, which is already poor, will take a back seat.