South Africa: Unintended Consequences - The Mangaung Backlash

analysis

Who could have anticipated that the run-up to the ANC's 53rd national conference would result in a war of words between Julius Malema and senior leaders of the ANC Youth League, that businessman Cyril Ramaphosa would be central to President Jacob Zuma's re-election bid, that Kgalema Motlanthe could be facing an exit from active politics or that Cosatu's voice would become superfluous? Mangaung is wreaking havoc in the Alliance, and the consequences could be far-reaching.

"We are now in a situation where the solution is more problematic than the crisis," says a prominent voice in the tripartite alliance in reaction to the nomination of businessman Cyril Ramaphosa for the position of deputy president. This is because the last thing Cosatu and the South African Communist Party wanted in the wheeling and dealing around Mangaung was for one of the country's richest businessmen to end up as the president-in-waiting.

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