By Jonathan Erasmus
The ANC has suffered its worst electoral defeat in democratic South Africa, but less than a week after the local government election results were announced, it appears more concerned with closing ranks than confronting any question of accountability.
On Thursday, as its National Executive Committee (NEC) gathered at the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg, party spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu delivered a confident message about President Cyril Ramaphosa’s future.
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“The president is going nowhere,” she told journalists. “There is no pressure on the part of this leadership collective for the president to leave.”
That’s about as unequivocal as it gets. But it does leave one rather awkward question for the ANC top brass to answer: if an electoral collapse of this magnitude is not enough to hold their feet to the fire, what exactly would be?
The liberation party garnered
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