EFF leader Julius Malema has cautioned that ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula is on his way to becoming the ANC’s next president unless there is immediate and serious intervention to stop him.
Malema’s comments come amid heightened speculation and backroom talk about an intensifying succession battle within the ANC, fuelled by the party’s recent national general council (NGC) event held in Boksburg this week.
Mbalula is rumoured to be a strong contender for the party’s top job.
“Mbalula is going to be the president of the ANC if there’s no serious intervention made to stop him,” Malema said during a media briefing on Thursday.
He believes Mbalula has already established a clear lead in the internal race.
“If it was a marathon, Mbalula is ahead, [deputy president] Paul Mashatile is trying to catch up.”
Malema argued that Mbalula indirectly took charge of the NGC, citing the secretary-general’s noticeably lengthy media briefings and the scenes of party members singing Mbalula’s name in front of President Cyril Ramaphosa.
“Out of this so-called staged NGC that gets organised in a manner it has never been organised, that was Mbalula’s show of force.”
He dismissed the notion that the NGC was primarily about defending Ramaphosa from internal critics.
“Mbalula wanted that to show them that he is in charge. He’s going for a kill; he’s going to emerge as a president unless something drastic happens.”
Malema criticised the ANC, arguing that the party’s electoral decline was fundamentally rooted in its failure to hold members accountable for wrongdoing, citing a systemic lack of internal discipline and a tolerance for mediocrity.
“What made the ANC decline is that it doesn’t sanction mediocrity, laziness and ill-discipline.”
Referring to his time in the ANC Youth League (ANCYL), Malema revealed that even when he was facing serious legal issues, including problems with the South African Revenue Service (Sars) and a criminal case in Limpopo that made front-page news, no ANC member, not even in the national executive committee (NEC), ever questioned him about it or asked him to explain himself.
Malema also pointed to the recent controversy involving former police minister Bheki Cele, who attended the NGC but was apparently not held to account for his controversial relationship with alleged underworld figure Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala.
“Cele was at the NGC of the ANC and no one asked him why he took Matlala’s money and slept in his apartment,” Malema said. “They never do that in the ANC ... hold you accountable.”
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