Whispers, Wedge Drivers and a President Under Fire: Inside the ANC’s Latest Power Struggle

In South African politics, rumours often travel faster than resolutions and this week, another one found its way into Luthuli House. The ANC’s national officials have agreed to probe what insiders are calling an “orchestrated attempt” to remove President Cyril Ramaphosa from his position as party leader.

But this was no dramatic palace coup. Instead, it’s a murmur-driven, WhatsApp-circulated, whisper-in-the-corridors kind of plot, the type that has defined ANC factional battles since the Polokwane wars.

And once again, the party finds itself navigating old ghosts wearing new faces.

Gungubele pushes back: “Investigate it, because this is following me everywhere”

ANC insiders say that Mondli Gungubele, one of Ramaphosa’s most trusted lieutenants, demanded that the party investigate claims that he had been plotting against the president.

Reports last week placed Gungubele, along with fellow Ramaphosa loyalist Joe Phaahla at the centre of a conspiracy to convince NEC members to push Ramaphosa out.

For Gungubele, the accusation struck at the heart of his political identity.

“Everywhere he goes now, he is treated like someone trying to topple the president,” an insider shared. “He asked the NWC to get to the bottom of it because his name is being dragged.”

Gungubele’s allies, including Eastern Cape chairperson Oscar Mabuyane and national chair Gwede Mantashe, have already tightened their political shields around him. For them, the allegation feels like a calculated attempt to fracture the Ramaphosa camp from within.

RET fingerprints and a familiar old playbook

Sources say elements linked to the ANC’s former Radical Economic Transformation (RET) grouping have been lobbying NEC members to push Ramaphosa to step aside.
Among those allegedly involved: a former parliament speaker and a senior ANC figure who once contested Ramaphosa in Nasrec.

It’s a classic RET move, stir internal suspicion, paint the president as vulnerable, and test the waters ahead of future conference battles.

There was even talk, insiders claim, of Thabo Mbeki being asked to step in as interim ANC president.
Mbeki’s close associates shut that down immediately.

“He would not return to that battlefield,” a longtime Mbeki ally said.

Mbalula: “A coordinated effort to divide the ANC”

ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula, ever the party’s fireman, told a special NEC meeting on Monday that the claims had the hallmarks of politically engineered chaos.

“This is coordinated,” a senior NEC member quoted him saying. “Those who claim they were lobbied can’t even tell us who lobbied them.”

Mbalula’s message was clear:
Do not be fooled. Do not be divided. Not now.

He later told reporters the ANC was facing an “existential crisis” and that leadership debates would only weaken the party at a moment when it needs to rebuild.

Ramaphosa rebounds after G20 fallout

Ironically, the plot talk arrived just as Ramaphosa seemed to be regaining political ground.

His firm stance toward the United States at the G20, where he confronted the fallout of Donald Trump’s diplomatic snub, has earned him rare praise inside party ranks.
For some NEC members, it was proof that Ramaphosa still had the stature to steer a struggling ANC through turbulent waters.

“He showed backbone,” an NEC member said. “He handled Trump in a way few leaders could. That saved him politically.”

Inside the NEC, Monday’s meeting reportedly saw members closing ranks around the president. For now, at least, Ramaphosa appears secure until his term ends in 2027.

Why the DA compliment almost detonated everything

But it wasn’t always like this.

Just months ago, Ramaphosa shocked ANC councillors when he openly praised the DA’s municipal performance, encouraging ANC-led metros to learn from Cape Town and Stellenbosch.

“It hurts me,” he told them, “when our municipalities move backwards.”

Some in the NEC never forgave him for that. His detractors seized on the moment as evidence that he had lost the plot and possibly the party.

Others started floating the idea that Paul Mashatile should front the ANC’s campaign for next year’s local elections.

The DA comment was the spark.
The G20 moment extinguished it, temporarily.

Phaahla hits back: “This is pure hogwash”

Health Minister Joe Phaahla, also accused of being part of the so-called plot, issued an unusually fiery statement on Monday.

“I regard these claims as utter rubbish and pure hogwash,” he said, dismissing the allegations as the work of “wedge drivers” trying to manufacture distrust.

Phaahla, long seen as part of the group of NEC members who quietly helped Ramaphosa secure a second term suggested the accusations were meant to tarnish his integrity after five decades in the ANC.

What this really is: A preview of 2027

Strip away the drama, and the alleged plot signals something more fundamental:

The succession battle for the ANC’s 2027 conference has already begun.

NEC insiders believe the swirling rumours are a strategic attempt to isolate Ramaphosa from his core allies, weaken his political centre, and prepare the ground for a new faction a playbook perfected during the Zuma era.

The upcoming National General Council (NGC), the ANC’s midterm policy review, now becomes a crucial test.
Historically, the NGC has served as the first indicator of shifting political winds it was here, after all, that the tide turned decisively against Mbeki before his removal.

This time, however, insiders predict delegates will rally behind Ramaphosa.

Unity, they insist, is the last lifeline left.

Where things stand now

For all the noise, the ANC’s official line is firm:

• No leadership contest.

• No plot confirmed.

• Officials are investigating.

• Ramaphosa remains secure for now.

But inside the ANC, plots don’t need proof to have power.
Whispers alone can shift alliances, unsettle loyalties, and shape the narrative leading up to 2027.

And as any veteran of ANC politics knows:
It’s never the loud battles that decide the future. it’s the quiet ones.

{Source: Times Live}

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