POLITRICKING | ‘Project 27?’ Mokonyane sounds alarm on ANC divisions, Fikile Mbalula and SACP
A more measured Nomvula Mokonyane revisited EWN as this week's guest on 'Politricking with Tshidi Madia', where she got candid about the ANC's challenges, and how they could be rectified.
FILE: Nomvula Mokonyane addresses the Broadcasting Digital Migration Colloquium in Bloemfontein, Free State, 25 October 2018. Picture: GCIS
"The ANC [African National Congress] is trying to heal itself… what we must desist from doing is to have people who want to throw in an item, which is not an immediate item."
This is a simple view put forward by the former liberation movement’s first deputy secretary-general, Nomvula Mokonyane, who echoes the sentiments of the party’s secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula, that the succession debate is a non-starter.
"I look at it and ask myself… there’s something called Project 2027? We have the coming local government elections, that’s a reality. If we don’t turn the situation around, you’ll lead a shell come 2027, or you will remain divided as an organisation," she said as she dismissed the chatter that’s recently dominated some circles in her organisation and the media in recent weeks.
While the ANC might be far from its next national conference, talk about who gets to replace its current president, Cyril Ramaphosa, is aflutter despite a dismal showing at the May 2024 polls.
This could be because of the looming national general council midterm review, which has in the past been used as a launchpad by those with ambitions for greater responsibilities within the ANC.
Mokonyane revisited EWN as this week’s guest on Politricking with Tshidi Madia, having first featured when EWN’s politics podcast was launched back in 2022.
At the time, she was a National Executive Committee (NEC) member who did not mince her words, blaming Eskom failures for the ANC’s poor showing across Gauteng’s metros in 2021, and raising concerns about the state of the NEC, which she said showed an intolerance for dissenting views in the organisation, and being implicated in state capture claims.
As she returns, she’s now part of the secretariat in the ANC, with some punting her as a possible candidate for presidency.
Despite her rubbishing succession talks, she’s also the current head of the ANC’s international relations subcommittee, while state capture clouds continue to hover above her head, as her bid to take the report on review remains a pending issue.
In acknowledging her current senior role in the organisation, Mokonyane says she is more measured and mature in navigating some of the ANC’s current challenges, even refusing to get into the state capture matters or to speaks on concerns of conflict raised by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) about state capture lawyers being brought in to assist the National Prosecuting Authority in getting some of those matters to trial.
"I think we must give the State the space… we have our own issues, I have my own issues, but I don’t want to use the media. I refuse to use the public space to explain myself," she said.
She took a similar approach when asked about Mbalula, saying officials had platforms where they assess one another, or even rein each other in if need be. She describes their relationship as "brother and big sister" and suggested the ever-vocal Mbalula was simply misunderstood.
Mokonyane explained that the party had confidence in Mbalula, raising concern over him being singled out, which she said would be to the detriment of the ANC.
"Many people see our SG as the Fikile Mbalula of the youth league and because he’s outspoken, even when he does what Kgalema Motlanthe used to do, like calling people to Luthuli house, it’s being read wrong," she says.
Mokonyane also discussed the contentious Government of National Unity, along with the continued resistance to the idea by the ANC’s alliance partner, the South African Communist Party (SACP).
She says the ANC must work on its relationship with the alliance, which is "not in the best condition".
The politician, who doesn’t dismiss the dim view some within the former liberation movement have taken when it comes to the power-sharing deal struck with nine other parties, including the Democratic Alliance (DA), says the ANC leadership is not ignorant of the fact that it’s in a partnership with some who "want to bury the ANC".
"No one amongst us have said we are comfortable and happy with the GNU; it’s a situation that has been given upon us, for us to navigate this strategic setback," she said.