DANIEL SILKE: 'Mayday! Mayday!' The ANC has sprung a leak
'With urban approval ratings for President Zuma at an all-time low, the President and his faction are running out of political oxygen'
With eight months to go before the ANC’s elective conference, ‘Brand Zuma’ is looking strained. This weekend’s disturbances at both COSATU’s main rally in Bloemfontein and in other events in KwaZulu-Natal indicate a deep-rooted internal firmament within the governing party as it contemplates leadership changes.
Disruptions to President Zuma’s address at a flagship commemorative event like May Day are significant. Clearly, COSATU’s call on Zuma to resign has found large-scale approval within the organisation. Similarly, the SACP also have found receptive audiences at their events indicating a popular mandate from the two smaller Alliance partners for their stance on the future of the President. It was critical for both COSATU and the SACP to have a public show of support for their view – and make no mistake, it is a dramatic view representing a loss of confidence and faith in the ANC President. Similarly, the apparent support for Cyril Ramaphosa from these two partners provides some much-needed uplift for a campaign only now starting to gain momentum. More concerning to the Zuma camp (that’s President Zuma and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma) is the coat-tails effect. It would now seem that if you are perceived as being close to the President, you may run fowl of prevailing sentiment within - at lea...
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