The king has also suspended members of the Ingonyama Trust Board (ITB) — including the chief executive officer and chief financial officer — pending an investigation into alleged potential breaches of the Public Finance Management Act.

The Mail & Guardian reported earlier this month that MisuZulu was under increasing pressure to fire Buthelezi over what were seen as actions undermining the stability of the KwaZulu-Natal coalition government.

In a statement dated 25 December but seen on Friday, the king said the role of traditional prime minister was one of “unwavering service to the throne and the nation, embodying the sacred bond between the monarchy and the people (and) steeped in tradition, wisdom and a commitment to the well-being and unity of the Zulu kingdom”.

“Today, I address you with a heavy heart as I announce my withdrawal with the immediate effect of the name of Rev Thulasizwe Dominic Buthelezi (MPL) from this esteemed position. Reasons for the withdrawal are to be shared with traditional leaders and the nation in due course, as we are still observing uMkhosi until the end of January 2025,” he said.

MisuZulu urged the Zulu nation to unite behind the process of appointing a successor to Buthelezi, a member of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) who is also the KwaZulu-Natal MEC for cooperative governance and traditional affairs.

Sources have previously told the M&G that provincial leaders from both the IFP and the ANC were concerned that Buthelezi was using the post of Zulu prime minister in a “destructive” way to build his profile.

Earlier this month KwaZulu-Natal premier Thami Ntuli, who is also the IFP’s provincial chairperson, scuppered the official opening of Buthelezi’s Ulundi office in a move seen as imposing his authority on the MEC.

King MisuZulu appointed Buthelezi as Zulu prime minister in January — despite objections from members of the royal family — to replace former IFP president Mangosuthu Buthelezi who died in September 2023, having served in the traditional role for a succession of monarchs.

The axed Buthelezi is also understood to have played a role in the breakdown in the relationship between the king and the ITB, of which he is the trustee and chairperson. MisuZulu has previously called for the dissolution of the board for refusing to enact his instructions, including appointing service providers to conduct an audit of the nearly three million hectares of land it administers on his behalf.

A separate statement from the king said the chief executive officer, chief financial officer, and other implicated board members had been issued with a formal notice of suspension pending the outcome of investigations. It said interim governance responsibilities would be overseen by MisuZulu himself and the remaining unaffected board member. 

But the board members on Friday said the king did not have authority to suspend anyone in the Ingonyama Trust.

In a media statement, they said the suspension followed a “surprising” letter from the king in early December notifying them of the appointment of one Stephen Jabulani Rakwena of Van Rensburg Kruger Rakwena Attorneys to undertake specific trustee functions. 

MisuZulu’s letter, said the board, also conveyed that the monarch was commissioning an independent forensic audit of the financial affairs of the Ingonyama Trust, the Ingonyama Trust Board and the Ingonyama Holdings for the past five years.

The subsequent letters this week suspending the board members were distributed by Rakwena, they said, adding: “His Majesty, the chairperson obviously does not have authority to suspend anyone in the Ingonyama Trust, however he has purported to do so … Mr. Rakwena has not been appointed by the board or anyone delegated by the board hence he is not acting on behalf of the Ingonyama Trust.”

*This story has been updated with the king also suspending members of the Ingonyama Trust Board.

The ANC reached out to its historical opponents — the Democratic Alliance (DA), Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and Freedom Front Plus — to form a government nationally and in KwaZulu-Natal and the Northern Cape.

In Gauteng, the ANC’s coalition talks with the former official opposition collapsed, leading Premier Panyaza Lesufi — one of the fiercest opponents of working with DA in the ANC and its alliance — to form a minority government with the Patriotic Alliance, Rise Mzansi and the IFP.

The government of national unity (GNU), and of provincial unity in KwaZulu-Natal, have held since their formation mid-year, but have generated internal pushback in the ANC and its alliance partners.

The South African Communist Party (SACP) and labour federation Cosatu both oppose the ANC’s relationship with the DA, as do many of its leaders and rank-and-file members, and have been calling on it to reconsider its decision and choose other partners with whom to govern.

Seven months on from the May elections, a second major political realignment is taking place, with several of the parties repositioning themselves ahead of the 2026 local government elections and the national and provincial elections three years later.

Last weekend, the SACP, a long-standing ANC alliance partner, confirmed its decision to contest the 2026 vote as a standalone party. 

The SACP special national congress ratified the resolution by its central committee that ends 30 years of the party backing the ANC at the polls and introduces it as a potential competitor, rather than an ally.

The SACP will contest all wards in the country and is considering how to fund its campaign and whether to “donate” its votes to the ANC, should it take wards in the municipalities.

The party has made it clear it would prefer the ANC to draw the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) into the GNU to replace the DA and it is likely to maintain this position when negotiations over the formation of councils in hung municipalities take place after the local elections.

In his opening address to the recent SACP congress, its secretary general, Solly Mapaila, said as much, describing the ANC-DA relationship as a “doomsday coalition”, but he also closed the door on working with Jacob Zuma’s “counter-revolutionary” uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party.

Mapaila said the SACP was not abandoning the alliance — or splintering the ANC — but was “asserting its independence” because of the governing party’s repeated failure to pay attention to the issue of reconfiguring the alliance.

The SACP will meet the ANC ahead of the latter’s national executive committee lekgotla, which traditionally sets out the priorities for government for the year ahead as part of a process of “continuous engagement” they agreed to in November.

The parties held their first bilateral talks last month in what was a clear attempt by the ANC to head off the decision to contest the polls and agreed to the pre-lekgotla follow-up as a concession to the SACP’s demand that it be consulted.

But whether this will allow the SACP to influence the cabinet process, which will have to also accommodate the DA and other parties, or whether it is simply a toy telephone, remains to be seen.

ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula told the media ahead of the special congress that his party would “engage further” and do everything possible to “undermine” the decision, which would have “dire consequences” for the alliance.

“We have cautioned against that,” Mbalula said. “It will have far reaching implications as allies going forward. If the SACP and the ANC contest in [the same] ward, we are going to clash and we are going to divide the base. 

“So, it has got implications and that is why we cautioned against that.”

EFF looks to the ANC

The SACP — and by implication the ANC — are not the only parties facing hard choices regarding how they position themselves in a changing political landscape.

The appearance of the MK party on the political scene not only cost the ANC its majority in May but also robbed the EFF of its position as the country’s third-largest party.

The EFF, which concluded its third national people’s assembly at the weekend, has been forced into a process of realignment itself as it chooses how it works — and with whom — with its reduced numbers.

Shifting alliances at council level have seen the EFF entering into power-sharing arrangements with the ANC in metro councils in Gauteng, removing the DA from power in both Johannesburg and Tshwane, and co-governing in Ekurhuleni. 

The party has also helped the ANC retain power in eThekwini in KwaZulu-Natal and now appears ready to attempt to replace the DA as the ANC’s partner nationally.

EFF president Julius Malema told delegates to the people’s assembly that the party is ready to go into a coalition with the ANC on condition that the DA is removed from the government of national unity.

Malema said the GNU would not last, predicting that, if President Cyril Ramaphosa did not bring into effect the two contentious clauses of the Basic Education Amendment Laws (Bela) Act, ANC members would remove him.

If Ramaphosa was not removed in the near future, it would happen after the ANC’s 2027 national conference, at which he was likely to be replaced by a person opposed to the current GNU, Malema predicted.

“The person who is going to be elected is a person who is going to fight the GNU and that is why we are saying it will not last,” he said.

“Everywhere else it is being rejected but people keep imposing it on members of the ANC. 

“So, don’t rush, comrades, we are waiting, we are going to enter this government. We are waiting. You will see.”

Malema also shot down the idea of a coalition with the MK party, to which a number of key EFF leaders, including Floyd Shivambu, have defected.

He has rejected Zuma’s “unity” approaches — and turned down an invitation to its first anniversary rally on Sunday — despite the two parties having been part of the self-proclaimed “progressive caucus” in parliament in opposition to the ANC-led GNU. “We want nothing to do with uMkhonto [but] it’s their own [problem] if they want them,” he said at the weekend about a possible ANC-MK party alliance. “We can’t choose friends for them anyway. They were friends together, criminals.”

The EFF has also urged its members to view the MK party as enemy number one, accusing its leaders of trying to destroy it by poaching key leaders and undermining its unity.

Black messiah

Zuma, in turn, has positioned MK as the focal point of a united front among black parties and at the weekend used its anniversary rally to sell it as such to other parties and his supporters.

Several other smaller parties — including Xiluva and the South African Rainbow Alliance — have already collapsed into Zuma’s party. 

The MK party’s secretary general, Shivambu, said it expected more to do so during the course of next year.

On Sunday, Zuma called on those parties that remained to vote for MK in 2026 and 2029 to help it achieve victory.

The former head of state said “black parties should stop fighting each other” in the coming elections, help the MK party take power, and then return to normal politics.

“We are not playing here. This is the last phase of our fight for our country,” he said.

“There are four years left before we vote again and take back what is ours and to fix our country. Are you with me? Stop acting like it will take 10 years. We need to work now, so we can be back in power.”

He said “black people must come together in local government and fix what happened in the past” in the coming election.

Zuma continued this theme at a gala dinner on Monday evening, at which he urged party members and leaders not to respond to insults from other political parties.

“Your business is to promote uMkhonto weSizwe so that people can see that, if this organisation is in power, we will have peace,” he said, urging those in attendance not to fight for positions.

The MK party has found itself in court over the removal of MPs to accommodate members brought in after the elections and recently lost cases in both the Mpumalanga legislature and the national assembly.

It also faces tension at ward level where disputes have broken out over the party replacing candidates chosen by its local supporters with those it has selected.

Zuma said the party would take action against people who continued to fight for positions.

“Our journey is a genuine one. The positions don’t mean anything — you waste your energy, time on hating a person who has not taken anything from you. We want people to stop their anger and have comradeship.”

ANC’s hard choices

The ANC’s first executive committee meeting of the year next month will not only be faced with how to deal with its dysfunctional KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng leadership structures, but how it responds to the scenario unfolding before it.

The party leadership is battling to deal with internal pushback over the relationship with the DA, which will intensify as the 2026 elections — and the ANC’s next elective conference  — approach.

The public tension with the DA over the Bela Act has been seized upon by opponents of the GNU in the ANC, as have that over foreign policy and the National Health Insurance, and will be used as a lever to try to move the ANC towards the SACP and the EFF in the future.

For now, the ANC will try to contain the fallout with its alliance partners internally while it smooths over the public clashes with the DA over policy issues by dealing with them at the level of the cabinet clearing house set up by Ramaphosa to resolve disputes between coalition partners.

In the case of the Bela Act, they are likely to use enabling regulations to resolve the stand-off over the implementation of two contentious clauses, allowing the process to go ahead while satisfying the concerns of both sides.

Speaking to journalists at the SACP congress at the weekend, ANC deputy president Paul Mashatile, who led the party’s delegation, said they would wait for further details of the SACP’s decisions before determining their effect on the tripartite alliance, which includes Cosatu.

“They will brief us after their congress. Once we have the details, we will discuss the implications for the alliance,” he said.

Responding to questions about strained relations, Mashatile admitted that the ANC’s formation of a unity government had drawn ire from alliance partners because they had not been consulted about the processes.

“We acknowledge the criticism that consultations came late during the GNU process. We have since engaged with our partners to address their concerns,” he said.

Before the elections, Ramaphosa promised to cull his “bloated” cabinet, which then consisted of 30 ministers and 36 deputies, while Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen pushed the party’s Vision 2029, which speaks of a pared-down, 15-member national executive.

But the ANC’s failure to secure 50%+1 in the national and provincial poll forced an about-turn by Ramaphosa, who added two ministers and seven deputies to his cabinet to accommodate leaders of the parties he brought into his government of national unity (GNU).

The demands for “quality” portfolios from the DA, and the need to make room for the Patriotic Alliance (PA), the Freedom Front Plus (FF+), the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC), the United Democratic Movement (UDM) and the Good party, meant more cabinet seats rather than fewer.

The national executive now consists of a staggering 75 members — 32 ministers and 43 deputies — the most in South Africa’s history, which we now know will cost R239  million a year (exclusive of perks).

This amounts to a cumulative cost of more than R1  billion (before benefits) to the taxpayer, should the GNU cabinet complete its five-year term.

Unsurprisingly, not one of the parties that has benefited from the ANC’s loss of its national majority — and from Ramaphosa’s back-to-the-wall largesse — has complained about the size or cost of the cabinet.

Neither have any of the new ministers spoken of a “bloated” civil service since joining government, where the reality of unfilled critical posts and the need to replace skilled staff leaving the system to deliver services appears to have swiftly hit home across portfolios.

That job has been left to ActionSA, the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and other opposition parties who either rejected Ramaphosa’s offer to join his unity government or set his removal from office as a condition for their involvement.

Lines redrawn

The former opposition parties’ stance on reducing the size of government was not the only “line in the sand” that was eventually redrawn during the negotiations regarding the composition of the GNU cabinet.

The talks began with the DA refusing to join a government that included Gayton McKenzie’s PA — or ANC deputy president Paul Mashatile. The DA also initially eyed Mashatile’s position for itself, arguing that its share of the vote entitled it to the deputy’s post.

These pre-conditions were swiftly dropped after it became clear that the PA was already on board and that the issue of the ANC deputy presidency was a non-negotiable.

The inclusion of the IFP did not prove to be difficult, once agreement had been reached with the DA and the ANC to constitute a government of provincial unity in KwaZulu-Natal with its candidate, Thami Ntuli, as premier.

Demands for Ramaphosa’s removal during the early part of June resulted in the exclusion of the EFF and the MK party — both of which the DA had refused to work with — again easing its decision to participate in the unity government.

A common commitment to constitutionalism was identified as the precondition for participation in the GNU, while the areas of commonality in their election manifestos were to be synthesised into their framework agreement or statement of intent.

Red-line issues, including the National Health Insurance, the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Act — then still a Bill — the scrapping of broad-based black economic empowerment and minimum wage laws were placed in abeyance by the DA.

The government’s existing Operation Vulindlela — which includes the unbundling of Eskom, ports concessioning and mineral rights reform — was identified as being acceptable and implementable by all parties.

From there, negotiations moved to the detail of allocation of cabinet seats and the interpretation of the formula by which they would be allocated.

Ten days of back-and-forth between the ANC and the DA ensued over the allocation of portfolios, with the former official opposition’s negotiators demanding 12 cabinet seats and control of at least one ministry in the economic cluster.

On 22 June, ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula offered the DA six ministerial and seven deputy minister posts, but this was rejected by its federal chairperson, Helen Zille, whose letter was leaked to the media.

In his letter to Zille, Mbalula emphasised the ANC’s commitment to forming a unity government based on “genuine inclusiveness” and “advancing the national interest”, in line with the statement of intent.

Mbalula said the offer was based on “a fair and reasonable manner of determining the number of positions in cabinet that each party would be appointed” in accordance with clause 16 of the statement of intent.

He then added “critical positions in the leadership of parliament”, including the deputy chair of the National Council of Provinces and other portfolios, to sweeten the deal, while reminding the DA that other parties had already signed up.

In response, Zille said the DA’s interpretation of the formula was correct and that it was “obvious” that the distribution of parties “can only start with a consideration of the relative electoral size of the parties participating in government.”

“Governments, by definition, are made up of parties participating in government. They are not made up of parties in opposition — that is what parliament is for,” Zille wrote.

She said it was “only fair and reasonable” for the DA to be represented across all cabinet clusters, including mineral resources and energy, transport and trade and industry, and that it chose which of its MPs serve in the cabinet.

Zille also requested that existing directors general be removed in the ministries that would be led by DA members.

Two days later Ramaphosa drew his own line in the sand and used his weekly newsletter to call on parties not to allow wrangling over positions to derail the process and reminded them that “South Africans are watching”.

“We should not waste our energies on those who stand in the way of our country’s progress or lose momentum over differences that can be resolved,” the president wrote.

“South Africans made it clear with their votes in last month’s elections that they want their elected representatives to put aside narrow interests and work together to build the country. To do so, the GNU cannot be preoccupied with jockeying for positions, tussles over appointments or squabbles within and between parties.

“The success of the GNU will be measured by the extent to which we are prepared to focus not on who will govern, but on how we will govern, together.”

An exchange of letters between Ramaphosa and Steenhuisen followed and the two leader then 

met to resolve the impasse, eventually clearing the way for the president to begin putting together a new unity cabinet, which he named on 1 July.

Ramaphosa’s 10-party government has proved the sceptics wrong and has held together despite the large number of participants and their widely divergent political views. 

The tension between the DA and the ANC over the Bela Act and other issues that existed before the formation of the coalition — including the SABC Bill — have been the greatest stressors on Ramaphosa’s administration.

There are also differences over foreign policy; the DA has accused the ANC of wanting to dominate, rather than allowing expression to the stances of other members of the GNU, itself in particular.

The rest of the parties appear to either have fewer policy differences with the ANC or have found it easier to work with the party in the cabinet — or have kept matters in-house when they do, rather than taking them to the media.

Matters came to a head over the Bela Bill in September, when Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube boycotted the ceremony at which the president signed it into law, while announcing a three-month delay in implementing two contentious clauses to allow the parties to “find each other”.

The move both annoyed the president and placed him under pressure to fire Gwarube.

But he referred the matter to the cabinet clearing house, set up in the same month to create a forum for discussion and resolution of disagreements on policy issues.

Gwarube increased the tensions ahead of the 13 December deadline by signing a bilateral agreement with trade union Solidarity, stating that the clauses would not be implemented, which sparked fresh calls for her to be removed.

But the matter remained with the clearing house. An agreement has been reached that the clauses will be implemented, but that the concerns of the parties will be addressed in the enabling regulations that will be promulgated to fully implement the new law.

The coalition government has also prevented issues at local and provincial level from polluting its discussions, although the removal of DA Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink by the ANC has seen Zille rule out backing the party in eThekwini in response.

The collapse of talks between the DA and the ANC in Gauteng was also not allowed to affect the national coalition discussions, nor have poor relations between the parties in the province interfered with the functioning of the unity government.

It finally split along the KwaZulu-Natal fault line in May when ANC members loyal to Jacob Zuma worked unabashedly to help his uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party to win 45% of votes in the province, more than the ANC could muster at a national level.

It left Ramaphosa with the legacy of being the man who led Africa’s oldest and proudest liberation movement to the loss of its electoral majority.

The president is no stranger to the agony of self-doubt and regret, and had come close to resigning six months earlier after the Ngcobo panel recommended that he face impeachment over the Phala Phala scandal. One may have expected days of similar rumination to follow the humiliation of 29 May.

Instead, as the writing went up on the wall at the National Results Operations Centre, Ramaphosa found grace and resolve in defeat. 

He quipped to then chief justice Raymond Zondo that he badly wished his gaffe on the election year had not been one and that the results about to be announced were indeed those from 15 years ago. By then his inner circle had been briefed without equivocation that he intended pursuing a coalition that would see the political centre hold. 

That meant persuading the Democratic Alliance (DA) to enter into government on terms that were not only palatable to the party’s leaders and donors, but to the sceptics in the ANC, among them Paul Mashatile and Gwede Mantashe.

The skill Ramaphosa honed in years of negotiations on the transfer of power from the apartheid regime served him well as he manoeuvred the process to allow the MK party and Economic Freedom Fighters to take themselves out of the equation.

He even borrowed the term government of national unity from the 1994 transition, though it hardly applies accurately here. The insistence on inviting eight other parties into the coalition was a calculation to counter suggestions he had sold out to the DA, and to cushion the ANC in numerical terms if John Steenhuisen were ever to pull out of the pact. It was vintage Ramaphosa and it was the relatively easy part.

The cabinet the president named on 1 July showed more careful thought taken in assigning portfolios to opposition parties than filling those that remained with the ANC. 

In sending Steenhuisen to agriculture and Siviwe Gwarube to basic education, Ramaphosa deployed them to areas of policy critical to their party’s constituency while burdening them with the past failures of his own party.

With the exception of Parks Tau at trade and industry and few others, his ANC appointments were less inspired. Assigning water affairs to Pemmy Majodina was, in the words of one of the president’s allies, “a disaster”, explicable only as a reward for loyal service in parliament. 

There was no good reason for naming Thembi Simelane justice minister, nor for hesitating for six months to shift her sideways after the public learnt what was never fully a secret to the president or his party. 

There was an untenable conflict of interest inherent in the minister who holds final political responsibility for the National Prosecuting Authority being a person of interest to the same entity. 

It cast a cloud over a coalition Ramaphosa, International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola and the rest of cabinet have been selling to foreign investors as a fresh start for the country.

And it came as a reminder that the president remains a prisoner to the party he leads, its populist factions and ongoing negotiations with reality and probity.

The tentative agreement reached last week to resolve the impasse over the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act is a case in point. Compromise was not only possible but indicated months ago.

There was never really a need for Ramaphosa to suspend the implementation of clauses 4 and 5 of the law because it cannot be implemented without regulations and budget allocations, both of which impose a lead time.

That it took the cabinet clearing house months to come to essentially this realisation is as much the DA’s fault as it is the president’s. But there is a greater onus on him than on the former opposition. As one analyst recently said, now is the time to “be President Ramaphosa, be the adult in the room and lead for the people who want this thing to work”.

History may forgive Ramaphosa’s inability to rescue the ANC’s electoral fortunes if he were to make a success of the government of national unity and begin to turn around the economy.

He has three years left in office, barring an early challenge from his deputy, and the ministers closest to him speak of a true sense of urgency and concern to address the country’s worst ills in the remainder of his final term. 

Ramaphosa is working around the weaknesses in his cabinet by centralising still more authority in the presidency and expanding the mandate, and potentially the staff component, of the Operation Vulindlela team. 

He is wisely ignoring the criticism in this regard because the water crisis, among others, demands the same determination that ended load-shedding. 

The president has similarly tuned out the grand-standing of his biggest coalition partner, keeping cabinet meetings steady and leaving it to his spokesperson to disabuse DA ministers who claim credit for achievements that were not theirs.

The drive to be effective in the time that remains extends to the international stage, and Ramaphosa plainly intends to use the presidency of the G20, which South Africa assumed at the beginning of the month, to maximum effect to campaign for the reform of multi-lateral institutions and fairer terms from international finance institutions for developing countries.

His foreign policy lacks the élan of Thabo Mbeki’s chimerical but seductive vision of an African renaissance. Ramaphosa instead speaks in terms of principled multi-lateralism and respect for international law, never missing an opportunity to accuse the United Nations Security Council of failing in its mandate with “a disastrous impact on the African continent and the Global South”.

Whatever Ramaphosa achieves in this field will largely hinge on how astutely he negotiates with Washington once Donald Trump re-enters the White House, and he appears to know it. The head of state has made a point of inviting Trump to the G20 summit and brought the date forward by a few days to 22 and 23 November next year, so as not to coincide with Thanksgiving.

Ramaphosa’s second term in office — and in particular the period since 29  May — has been marked by a number of such moments of clarity of purpose which were largely missing during his first.

A continuation of this focused thought and action during Ramaphosa’s final three years would be welcome: it both becomes the president and serves the country.

Malema made the comment in his closing address on Sunday to the EFF’s third elective conference which saw him returned unopposed as party leader.

The party’s other top six members include deputy president Godrich Gardee, secretary general Marshall Dlamini, deputy secretary general Leigh-Ann Mathys, national chairperson Nontando Nolutshungu and treasurer general Omphile Maotwe.

Malema told delegates that the national coalition government would not last, predicting that if President Cyril Ramaphosa did not bring into effect the two contentious clauses of the Basic Education Amendment (Bela) Act, ANC members were going to remove him.

If Ramaphosa was not removed now as South Africa’s president, this would happen after the ANC elective conference in 2027 and he would be replaced by someone opposed to the unity government, Malema went on to predict.

His remarks were an apparent reference to deputy president Paul Mashatile, who plays a key role in the coalition government with the DA and other parties but was seen singing an anti-GNU song at this week’s South African Communist Party congress.

“The person who is going to be elected is a person who is going to fight GNU, and that is why we are saying it will not last,” Malema said.

“Everywhere else it is being rejected, but people keep on imposing it on members of the ANC, so don’t rush comrades, we are waiting, we are going to enter this government. We are just waiting, you will see.”

He said when the ANC started fighting with DA federal chair Helen Zille, the EFF would enter government. It would do this not to save the ANC, but to work for the people and through this, they would vote the EFF into power at the next elections, Malema added.

“Our people gave all the progressive black parties a majority to govern in South Africa, the ANC decided to go with right wingers, racists, white supremacists. It will come back to its senses. When it comes back to its senses, When it comes back to its senses, we are here,” he said.

Malema said if the ANC were to invite Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe party into the coalition government, that would be its own problem, making clear that the EFF’s participation wasn’t dependent on MK’s inclusion.

“We want nothing to do with uMkhonto (but) it’s their own (problem) if they want them… We can’t choose friends for them anyway. They were friends together, criminals,” he said.

Malema said being tasked with the responsibility of being the vanguard of the struggle for economic freedom was not a personal achievement for the EFF’s newly-elected leaders.

“No one has won anything here today. It is only the EFF. The EFF showed the highest level of discipline and democracy without any incidents of violence or humiliation of any individual,” he said, adding that the conference had proved that the party was “bigger than all of them”.

“There were countless attempts to inspire division, factionalism and disunity ahead of this national people’s assembly, and as delegates of branches of the EFF, you resisted the agents of disruption and delivered a successful conference. For this, I thank you,” he told delegates.

Malema said many of the members of the EFF central command team (CCT) who were elected on Saturday would be leading at the national level for the first time and the party should  determine what this entailed. Every CCT member must be an all rounder with the capacity to organise and mobilise without seeking external assistance, he added.

Malema said there were people who had been working day and night to divide the EFF, not because they hated the party, but because they could never succeed outside factional politics.  

“So our leaders will have to grow very fast, because factionalism is what destroyed the ANC and it will destroy the EFF. Our leaders must learn to consult each other. There is no leader here who possesses all of the wisdom,” he said.

“If you are a secretary of a province, you find yourself talking to other secretaries of provinces, giving them names from your province, and you have not consulted with your chairperson about that. You must know you are a problem.

“You have to respect each other and respecting each other means you have to respect each other’s views. You don’t have to agree with the name, but give them an opportunity to express themselves.”

In an apparent reference to EFF MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, who had been punted as a potential deputy president, but skipped the elective conference, Malema said “there is no leader of the EFF who’s not here in front”.

“There’s no leader of the EFF who’s not here in Nasrec. If they are not here, they are not leaders of the EFF. You must never regard them as the leaders of the EFF,” he added.

to position it as a champion of black unity and call on its supporters to return him to office so he can complete the “unfinished business” interrupted by his recall by the ANC.

The party marked a year of existence on Sunday with a spirited but delayed rally at Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium, which it failed to fill, despite predictions by its leadership earlier in the week that it would be packed to capacity.

The delays, searing heat in the open stands and a withdrawal of planned trains from the townships around Durban all appear to have contributed to Zuma addressing a far from full stadium.

The former president called on his supporters to prepare for the 2026 local government vote — which he said the party would win — and for the next national and provincial elections, which he noted were only just over four years away.

“There are four years left before we vote again and take back what is ours and to fix our country,” Zuma said. “Are you with me? Stop acting like it will take 10 years. We need to work now, so we can be back in power.”

He called for the unity of black parties in 2026 and in 2029, saying that “black people must come together in local government and fix what happened in the past” in the coming election.

Zuma thanked the leadership of the African Transformation Movement and other parties involved in the so-called progressive caucus in parliament for attending the anniversary — an invitation which was declined by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).

In a reference to this — and to the rejection of his unity call by EFF president Julius Malema at the party’s national people’s assembly this week — Zuma said this was not the time for black parties to be fighting and insulting each other.

The former head of state called on black parties to “stop fighting each other” in the coming elections and take power, and then return to normal politics.

“We are not playing here. This is the last phase of our fight for our country,” he said.

The MK leader continued with his narrative that the party had been robbed of a two-thirds majority in 29 May general elections — when it took 17% of the national vote and 45% in KwaZulu-Natal — and called for changes to the vote counting system.

The MK party has lodged a second challenge to the May results in the electoral court.

Zuma called for changes to the electoral system, urging his supporters to challenge the status quo and protest in order to ensure that votes are counted publicly, locally and “not by strangers”.

“They robbed us of our votes. In future, we must also be there as the community when they are counting our votes so we know exactly what has happened. There must be public counting. We need that,” he said.

“We must all agree that in the next election, MK must have a big drum for votes, and the other parties, and we must be there when they count the votes. We don’t care what the regulations say.”

The MK leader also used the occasion to remind his followers why he had started the party, telling them that there were things that “we must not forget about”, including colonialism, apartheid and land dispossession, which continued today through the government of national unity.

“We are here today to say that there must be unity of black people. We are the only people who are struggling. Nobody else will take us out of our struggles. It is only us,” he said.

“Let us never forget what white people did to us.”

Zuma said the ANC’s refusal to allow him to make the changes he wanted to and its move to recall him in 2018 were among the reasons that prompted him to form the new party.

After 30 years in power, the ANC had “decided to join white people” and “slowly shifted away from me, and until we became enemies”, he charged.

With one year left in office, “comrades were abusing me” because “they could see I was changing most of the things”, Zuma said, adding that he was “pushed out and forced to leave, so I left”.

The former ANC president said the governing party had been “used as a weapon to defeat us”.

He added that the Zondo state capture commission which implicated him in corruption had been used “to say people who didn’t steal were called thieves, yet they were all stealing”.

Zuma said nothing had happened about President Cyril Ramaphosa’s scandals, including “money under his couches,” a reference to the Phala Phala affair.

“The president has the worst cases but he has never appeared in court. Even if you have done nothing, you will appear in court. I’m coming from prison,” Zuma said, referring to his 2021 incarceration for contempt of court.

“They said, arrest him, arrest him, but the one who has got money under the couches, he is the president. He is a good person.”

Also addressing supporters on Sunday, Zuma’s deputy John Hlophe called on party members to stop “jostling for positions” and settling up parallel structures.

The MK party has found itself in court over the removal of MPs to accommodate members brought in after the elections — including Hlophe himself — and recently lost cases in both the Mpumalanga legislature and the national assembly.

It is also facing a court battle over which of two rival MK candidates will represent the party in a by-election in Pietermartizburg next week.

“There is no movement that is immune from internal challenges. MK is no exception to this. As a young and dynamic organisation, we have faced growing pains that accompany rapid expansion and the pursuit of real change,” Hlophe said.

Both were an “unfortunate reality” in politics, but while “ambition is natural it must never come at the expense of our shared vision”, he added.

He said factionalism “presents a serious threat” to the party and would weaken it and distract it from its mission.

“We must address these issues decisively with a firm hand and an unwavering focus on the greater good,” Hlophe said.

Speaking at the SACP’s fifth special national congress in Boksburg on Saturday, Mbeki said it was important for the alliance partners to collaborate in tackling shared problems and shaping the country’s future. 

The congress, which brought together over 570 delegates representing 37 000 members nationwide, unanimously supported Mbeki’s call to mobilise grassroots membership for the dialogue, scheduled to take place in 2025. 

The initiative is being organised by a coalition of foundations associated with former anti-apartheid leaders, including the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, while the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) will play a critical role in facilitating the discussions.

Mbeki said he had first proposed the dialogue earlier this year, as an inclusive process that would involve political leaders, civil society organisations, and ordinary citizens to address pressing issues such as poverty, unemployment, and racial inequality while offering solutions to strengthen the democratic framework. 

He said the SACP’s participation was essential to ensuring that the voices of the working class and marginalised communities were heard and warned that failure to engage could allow other forces to dominate the discussions, potentially steering the agenda away from the people’s aspirations. 

“This dialogue is for the people,” Mbeki said, contrasting the initiative with the 1994 Kempton Park negotiations which ended apartheid but were dominated by political elites.

“This is not just for the political elites. This is for everyone who cares about the future of our country.”

The SACP has lately criticised the ANC as being “weak” and its general secretary Solly Mapaila earlier this week said a part of him was “bleeding” because this “weakness in leadership” had led to his organisation seeking autonomy and deciding to contest future elections alone.

“The arrogance of political power has led to this decision,” Mapaila said on Wednesday.

The ANC entered into an alliance with the SACP, labour federation Cosatu and the South African National Civics Organisation (Sanco) in the 1990s, but the Communist Party says the ANC has often left it out of critical discussions which have shaped policies in the country.

On Saturday Mapaila said the dialogue next year would honour the SACP’s call to ensure the inclusion of marginalised voices, particularly those of the working class, in the national conversation.

But, he added that while it was open to engagement, the SACP would not back down on its decision to go alone at the 2026 local government elections, with the party’s resolutions accepting the call for autonomy.

Mapaila added that the party would contest all the wards in the municipal elections independently.

Delegates debated whether to adopt a focused campaign targeting specific municipalities, similar to ActionSA’s approach, or to pursue a wall-to-wall strategy to establish itself as a prominent contender in local governance. A wall-to-wall strategy is an electoral approach where a party contests every available position across all regions, ensuring maximum visibility and representation but requiring significant resources and coordination.

“This step is essential for advancing working-class representation,” SACP deputy general secretary Madala Masuku said. “It ensures the struggles of the working class and the poor drive local governance.” 

Mapaila said the decision was not about severing ties with the ANC but rather about ending the “abuse” the SACP has endured within the alliance. 

Citing internal challenges, Mapaila pointed to the example of SACP Mpumalanga chairperson Bonakele Majuba, who faced threats of removal from his MEC position due to internal ANC power struggles. 

Despite such difficulties, Mapaila reiterated that the SACP’s decision aims to strengthen the ANC by asserting the party’s independence and prioritising the interests of the working class. 

He warned delegates to prepare for a potential backlash, noting that some ANC members had already begun threatening SACP comrades over the party’s decision to contest elections.

Cosatu also expressed its support for the SACP’s decision to contest the 2026 municipal elections. Addressing the congress on Saturday, the labour federation’s deputy president Mike Shingange criticised the ANC for sidelining alliance partners during the formation of the government of national unity (GNU) after 29 May elections and failing to engage meaningfully with its allies.

He warned that the ANC’s collaboration with the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the GNU was alienating its base, adding that there were policy clashes such as the DA’s opposition to the national minimum wage, the Basic Education Laws Amendment ( Bela) Act, and the National Health Insurance (NHI).

“Do not force us to love people who hate us,” Shingange said, referencing the DA’s ideological opposition to the alliance’s working-class priorities. 

He added that the ANC leadership had failed to uphold the principles of the alliance, leaving Cosatu and the SACP no choice but to assert themselves independently.

On Friday, ANC deputy president Paul Mashatile acknowledged the criticisms and committed to rebuilding unity within the alliance. 

Mashatile said the ANC would work to restore trust and ensure that the alliance continues to represent the interests of the poor and working class.

“He’s not here and it’s not in our interest to entertain such nonsense,” a visibly annoyed Malema told journalists on Saturday morning, on the sidelines of the EFF’s third national people’s assembly currently underway in Nesrec, Soweto.

When the conference opened on Friday, Ndlozi was one of the high profile EFF figures that was notably absent. 

“We are not going to answer the question about Mbuyiseni Ndlozi,”Malema said on Saturday. 

“I’m not responsible for Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, 90% of the people who are here, who are expected to be here, are here, that’s what matters. Whoever is not here, was not supposed to be here from the beginning. So you are not going to reduce this organisation to some individual. We are going to refuse that.”

In November, the Mail & Guardian reported that Ndlozi had been barred from attending all activities including party meetings. This was after some in the EFF raised concerns about his loyalty to the organisation because of his close relationship with former deputy president Floyd Shivambu who defected to the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party.

Ndlozi has also been attacked by some party members for not defending the EFF during its hard times when the Jacob Zuma-led MK party was porching its members.

Last month Malema told EFF supporters outside the constitutional court that Ndlozi had renewed his party membership and was going nowhere, adding that no political party could claim him.

“I hear people are talking about Dr. Ndlozi as a member of the EFF, he’s a leader of the EFF and no organisation can claim him except for the EFF,” Malema said at the time.

“You must not listen to gossip from drunkards. You ask us about the EFF leaders and we will tell you that Ndlozi is an active EFF member. He renewed his membership, he is part of the EFF membership system of the EFF.”

On Thursday, EFF secretary general Marshall Dlamini told a media briefing that the party would not reduce its conference to an individual. 

“We’re here now at the third national people’s assembly. This NPA will prove that no one is bigger than this organisation. This is an organisation of members of the EFF; you’re a member, and you know what is expected. So, I’m not going to entertain any names. I’ve got 2 500 delegates here; it starts and ends there,” Dlamini said.

On Saturday a furious Malema asked journalists why the party should be concerned about one person, as if the conference would not happen without Ndlozi.

“We must be monitoring the movements of individuals. Why be concerned about one person over so many people who are here as if he is at the conference. I hear people say, he’s here, he’s doing this. He’s not here and it’s not in our interest to entertain such nonsense,” he said.

“We’re dealing with political issues here. Not egoism, not people who think they are bigger than this organisation. It will show them, once again, that it’s bigger than all of them. So, as a matter of principle, policy, and position SG, we are no longer going to answer any nonsense about Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, never.”

He repeated that the matter was closed and that  “you (journalists) can talk about it amongst yourself, don’t bring it to us, we are refusing that”.

There has been speculation that Ndlozi would contest the election while sitting at home if he is nominated for any position.

Asked whether members of the party can contest without being present at the conference,  Malema said no one had been barred from standing for a position.

“They can still send letters,” he added.

“It looks like it is possible for everybody’s concerns to be addressed substantively,” one of the parties to a crunch meeting of the clearing house on Thursday told the Mail & Guardian.

“But there are a couple of steps that have to be taken to get there.”

Satisfying all sides will now be a question of achieving broad consensus around the norms, standards and regulations that must be drafted by Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube to give effect to the law.

The clearing house discussed broad outlines laid down by the minister, which will now be considered by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

A report was forwarded to Ramaphosa on Thursday evening, his office confirmed, after the clearing house met for three hours in the afternoon.

The talks were described as robust but not as fractious as earlier meetings at resolving bitter divisions between the ANC on the one hand and the Democratic Alliance (DA) and Freedom Front Plus on the other. None of the other parties in Ramaphosa’s cabinet have opposed the Act.

Ramaphosa signed the Act into law on September 13, but suspended implementation of the two sections in question for three months for further consultation.

It is now up to the president to announce whether he is lifting the suspension of sections 4 and 5, and whether these will take effect immediately or at a later date.

“The president will be going through the report from the GNU (government of national unity) clearing house process, and thereafter, he will indicate the way forward,” his spokesman Vincent Magwenya said.

Ramaphosa is hosting German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and a swift decision should not be expected. 

The DA, which demanded a rethink of the sections in question during negotiations on forming a coalition alliance with the ANC, was cautiously optimistic that the policy row could be resolved.

“The president has the proposals in front of him. We hope that he will make the right decision and look at the negotiations that took place and take to heart the information and the advice that his minister gave him,” DA spokesman Willie Aucamp said on Friday. 

The DA was represented in Thursday’s meeting by Helen Zille, the party’s federal chairperson.

Other parties to the clearing house negotiations said the overall consensus was that the suspension of sections 4 and 5 must be lifted.

The long, heated debate around how and when they will be implemented has largely been an unnecessary one, one of the parties said.

It was driven and skewed by the rhetoric of the May elections.

“If you look at the legislation as it is, and the steps that would have to be taken in the ordinary course of implementing legislation anyway, it is possible to resolve all those issues within the legislation as it is,” one party to the negotiations said.

The route was through the regulations without which effect could not be given to the Act, and therefore implementation would, realistically, be about a year away in any event. 

Implementation will also require prior information campaigns and sessions around the provision that criminalises failure to enrol children in Grade R, as well the conditions under which provincial authorities can intervene on language and admission policy.

The latter made for the main sticking point between the ANC and the DA.

Its criticism around the Act centred around the extent to which the authority to set language and admission policy could be taken away from governing bodies and given to provincial education politicians.

This was read by many on the other side as a regressive attempt to preserve Afrikaans as a language of instruction, among them Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi. On Thursday, he was reported as describing the decision on implementing the act as a choice “to defend our children or surrender them to those who hate us”.

Lesufi demanded that the Act be implemented in full as of Friday.

But one party to the negotiations noted that the budget appropriations for the current financial year do not accommodate the Bela Act.

“Anybody who thinks you could implement the legislation in January is misguided. There is no money for it.”

The standoff over the bill has fed into factional opposition within the ANC over its coalition arrangement with the DA and prompted calls for Ramaphosa to fire Gwarube.
The Mail & Guardian has been told emphatically that this is not on the cards.

This follows months of deliberations over the law, which has drawn both strong support and heated opposition because of its implications for school admissions and language policies.

Addressing delegates at the South African Communist Party’s (SACP) 5th special national congress in Boksburg on Friday, Mashatile said the Act was an important part of  advancing the ANC’s broader transformation agenda. 

Passed by democratic parliament on 26 October 2023 and signed into law by Ramaphosa on 13 September this year, the Bela Act’s implementation was delayed for three months to allow for further consultation on its two controversial clauses.

The delay in implementing parts of the law was intended to create space for meaningful dialogue between the parties. During the consultation period, stakeholders were encouraged to submit proposals addressing disputes over clauses 4 and 5 of the Act, which deal with school admission processes and language policies.

The three-month grace period came to an end on Friday 13 December.

Clauses 4 and 5 aim to address historical inequities in South Africa’s education system, but they have also sparked fierce resistance from groups advocating for linguistic and cultural preservation. 

Labour union Solidarity has threatened legal action against the Act, while the ANC and its leftist allies have urged Ramaphosa to resist pressure to dilute its transformative provisions.

Mashatile, who chairs the clearing house responsible for resolving disputes, confirmed that the consultation period concluded on Thursday.

“The president provided stakeholders with three months to raise their concerns and propose solutions. That period has now ended, and a report has been submitted to him,” Mashatile said.

He said Ramaphosa would announce the next steps “very soon” but did not specify a timeline.

Mashatile said the Bela Act and the equally divisive National Health Insurance Act form part of the ANC’s broader strategy to address structural inequalities and ensure equitable access to essential services. 

“These policies are integral to our vision of a national democratic society,” he said, adding that the push for transformative policies had been rejected by the ANC’s partners in the coalition government.

“It’s clear that there is significant pushback against transformative legislation. However, we are standing firm to ensure that these progressive policies are implemented.”

Mashatile’s comments come amid growing criticism of the ANC’s approach to governance within the unity government, which was formed after the party lost its parliamentary majority in 29 May general elections.

The GNU has faced criticism from the ANC’s alliance partners the SACP and labour federation Cosatu, who argue that it has diluted the party’s socialist principles. At the SACP congress, delegates expressed their dissatisfaction through anti-GNU chants, arguing that the ANC was advancing the interests of right-wingers.

In response to these criticisms, Mashatile insisted that the ANC was committed to its transformative goals. 

“We have decided to use the GNU strategically to continue advancing the struggle for a national democratic society as envisioned in the Freedom Charter,” he said.

He urged unity among alliance partners, emphasising the importance of collaboration in achieving shared objectives.

“We must ensure that progressive policies take us forward and are implemented effectively,” he said, adding that the ANC was taking into consideration the criticisms levelled at it which led to it losing its majority for the first time in 30 years. 

“We take these to heart. The broader society has been calling on the president to sign and implement this legislation. The announcement will not take long,” Mashatile said. “We must work together to build a united South Africa and not let anything deter us from achieving our shared goals.”

The deputy president said forming the GNU was not ideal, but was the best strategy for the ANC after losing its majority.

“We have decided though, at the moment, we will try to use it to assist us to continue to advance the struggle to achieve a national democratic society as envisioned in the Freedom Charter,” he said.

“We will continue to work for the unity of the alliance in honour of those who were imprisoned. I can say without fear of contradiction that the ANC will never betray our people, especially the poor and the working class.” 

On Thursday, ANC Gauteng chairperson and provincial premier Panyaza Lesufi said “betrayal is not an option” on the issue of the Bela Act. 

“We are urging our president to do one thing and one thing only: to allow the implementation of the Bela Act without any further delay. This is a period when cowards must step aside and leave the brave to go forward,” he said.

“Periods like this want us to strengthen our forces. Periods like this want us to have a strong and agile alliance. We are not children of cowards. We are children of stalwarts. If you touch us, singayisusa [we can defend ourselves].”