Phala Phala saga shifted NEC’s focus from main priority– political analyst
Political analyst Dirk Kotze says the Phala Phala saga shifted focus from the main purpose of this weekend’s ANC national executive committee meeting.
The ANC concluded its three-day NEC meeting at the Nasrec Expo Centre in Soweto on Sunday, as the governing party builds up to its national conference in December.
Ramaphosa delivered his closing address without mentioning the Phala Phala scandal.
Kotze says the main purpose of the meeting was to prepare for the December conference and thus Phala Phala was not meant to be part of the agenda.
“The main purpose of this meeting is to prepare for the national conference, so the matter of Phala Phala just received a lot of attention but strictly speaking it wasn’t even on the agenda.
“As I understand the meeting is about finalising different reports such as the political, organisational and financial reports for the main report that will be tabled at the conference.”
Kotze says Ramaphosa’ opponents used the Phala Phala saga to destabilise Ramaphosa’s efforts at winning a second term as ANC leader.
“Ramaphosa opponents sees this as the last opportunity to disqualify him as a candidate and that’s why they were putting so much pressure on him during this meeting.”
Kotze further added that there is no ground for Ramaphosa to step aside.
“There is no ground for stepping aside at this stage, because it only applies to someone who have been charged at court or suspended by the ANC itself, and that has not happened to the president, and therefore I do not think there is any pressure on him to step aside.”
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