RAY HARTLEY: Either Ramaphosa drags the ANC into the light or it drags him into the shadows
'The party has to lift its gaze from its navel to the horizon. If it does so, it will see millions of sceptical voters'
There were two ANCs on display this week. The old Zuma ANC and a possible new Ramaphosa ANC. On Tuesday, the old Zuma ANC was represented by secretary-general Ace Magashule, who announced the decision by the party’s national executive committee to recall Jacob Zuma. The way in which he phrased the recall – “We did not take these decisions because comrade Jacob Zuma has done anything wrong” – was emblematic of the uncomfortable, inward-looking politics of a closed organisation. In this world, the protection of the leader against the slings and arrows of criticism - and those flung by the criminal justice system - trumps all else. And so Magashule said: “Forget about fake news [on] Russian nuclear or any other thing that disrespects President Zuma. We still believe in him as a leader.” It was the sort of double-speak that a closed society without an interrogative media might have been fed during the Cold War. And even then not believed. The next day Magashule was nowhere to be seen. A...
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