Deputy President Paul Mashatile (left) with Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Ronald Lamola and Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi at Alliance Church in Barberton, Mpumalanga, on 7 January 2024.(Photo: Elmond Jiyane) 
On Sunday, the ANC’s highest decision-making body between conferences, the National Executive Committee (NEC), cut its meeting short to allow members to join church congregations in Mbombela, Mpumalanga and “ask for prayers”.
Party national chairperson Gwede Mantashe said the ANC needed prayers because some citizens had begun to doubt it and to “renew and unite itself so that it could continue leading society appropriately”.
Deputy President Paul Mashatile at Alliance Church in Barberton, Mpumalanga, on 7 January 2024. (Photo: Elmond Jiyane)
President Cyril Ramaphosa was not at the meeting because, according to the party’s national spokesperson, Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri, he was attending to urgent “matters” facing the nation.
Read more in Daily Maverick: Elections 2024
Deputy President Paul Mashatile, who stood in for Ramaphosa, told congregants at the Church on the Hill that the party faced challenges and enemies, both internal and external.
Speaking in isiZulu, Mashatile said, “izitha ziningi”, loosely translated to “enemies are many”. Despite this, he said, the party had been undergoing a process of rebuilding and renewal.
Deputy President Paul Mashatile (centre) with police minister Bheki Cele (left) and an ANC Women’s League member at Alliance Church in Barberton, Mpumalanga, on 7 January 2024. (Photo: Elmond Jiyane)
Former president Jacob Zuma could be seen as one of the party’s “enemies” following his decision not to vote or campaign for it and instead to support the newly formed uMkhonto Wesizwe party.
Read more in Daily Maverick: ANC KZN condemns Zuma’s ‘gross ill-discipline’ for support of new party
The party was announced three weeks ago. It has since launched in three provinces, including Mpumalanga, where hundreds of people turned out to support it this weekend.
This is the province where the ANC will celebrate its 112th birthday this week.
Speaking during uMkhonto Wesizwe’s election campaign on Saturday, in Kempville Stadium in Mkhondo, an ANC stronghold, Zuma said the ANC no longer served the needs of South Africans, and its current leaders had tainted the image of the party and served their own needs.
The new party has not established structures and will do so only after the elections.
“I am the one who said we will not choose structures; we will only have structures for the interim because we are building a healthy organisation here. We don’t want a party where people kill each other for positions; we won’t allow that,” Zuma told supporters in Mpumalanga.
Deputy President Paul Mashatile (left) with Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Ronald Lamola and Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi at Alliance Church in Barberton, Mpumalanga, on 7 January 2024. (Photo: Elmond Jiyane)
At the Church on the Hill, Mantashe urged ANC supporters not to be alarmed by Zuma’s conduct: “It’s common in Africa for former presidents to lead rebel movements.”
Danger
Political analyst William Gumede said uMkhonto Wesizwe’s danger to the ANC was that it could help bring down the party’s support in KwaZulu-Natal to around 40% and to below 50% nationally.
“It is also likely to take votes from the EFF. Both parties — along with Ace Magashule’s African Congress for Transformation (ACT) — are fishing in the same ANC voter pond,” he wrote in an article in the Sunday Times this week.
Mashatile, however, believes the party will stand firm after the elections. He would not be drawn into detailing how the party would deal with Zuma. The former president has said he remained an ANC member despite campaigning for another party.
“Our house is still standing 112 years old because it is built on a strong foundation. Like any family, you have members who behave in a particular way. Others will want to break windows, others break the doors but there are those of us who are rebuilding, renewing, and this house will never fall,” Mashatile said.
Polls released by the Social Research Foundation, The Brenthurst Foundation and Ipsos in October 2023 put ANC support across SA at 43-45%.
Read more in Daily Maverick: Three polls show ANC election support is falling off a cliff
A month ago, the ANC was rocked by the resignation of its stalwart Mavuso Msimang, who said the party had been racked by endemic corruption, with devastating consequences on the governance of SA and the lives of poor people.
The party later announced that Msimang had rescinded his resignation after it agreed to exclude from this year’s parliamentary lists members implicated in State Capture who had not been cleared by the Integrity Commission.
Read more in Daily Maverick: Mavuso Msimang backtracks on ANC resignation
“We have lived in this house, the ANC, for many years and it will continue to stand despite some of the challenges,” Mashatile said. “And some of the challenges come from the outside. There are many who want to see this house falling, but we are here to protect it.” DM