While the so-called "ANC rebels" celebrated outside the Pietermaritzburg High Court following a decisive victory against their own party leadership‚ another man‚ several hundred kilometres away‚ would have been quietly smiling to himself. That man was presidential hopeful Cyril Ramaphosa‚ who could emerge the unlikely beneficiary of Tuesday’s ruling which‚ effectively‚ renders the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal leaderless and in disarray. And with the province among the biggest backers of Ramaphosa’s strongest rival for the party’s top job‚ Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma‚ any instability in KwaZulu-Natal could prove decisive. This is the view of KwaZulu-Natal political analyst and researcher Thabani Khumalo‚ speaking in the wake of a ruling by Judge Jerome Mnguni that the ANC’s 2015 provincial elective conference was unlawful. The ruling renders the election of the party’s top five‚ and of the other 25 members of the provincial executive committee‚ null and void — effectively overturning their electi...

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