- Deputy ministers Mondli Gungubele and Joe Phaahla, identified as alleged plotters, have called for an ANC probe to clear their names after being accused of planning Ramaphosa’s removal.
- Both former ministers were demoted to deputy positions, allegedly fueling discontent with Ramaphosa’s leadership.
- The ANC has closed ranks around Ramaphosa ahead of this weekend’s NGC meeting, with senior leaders dismissing removal plots as ‘fabrication’ and ‘manipulation’.
The ANC will launch an internal investigation to determine who is behind a failed attempt to remove Cyril Ramaphosa as party leader.
This stems from a request by those who are themselves implicated in the attempt, City Press’ sister publication Rapport has learnt from sources in the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC), the party’s highest decision-making body.
Two deputy ministers and staunch Ramaphosa allies, Mondli Gungubele and Joe Phaahla, were identified by the Sunday World last week as the two senior NEC members who allegedly planned a rebellion against Ramaphosa’s leadership.
They are allegedly disgruntled because they were demoted from being ministers to deputy ministers with the formation of the government of national unity (GNU).
Gungubele, former communications minister, is now deputy to the DA’s Solly Malatsi in that portfolio. Phaahla, former health minister, is now subordinate as deputy to his party colleague Aaron Motsoaledi.
READ: Presidential pressure? Inquiries could see factional shifts ahead of 2027 ANC conference
Both Gungubele and Phaahla have strongly denied allegations that they are behind the planned removal of Ramaphosa over the past week.
According to the publication’s NEC sources, Gungubele demanded at an NEC meeting on Monday that an investigation be launched to restore his name’s honour.
This comes after Ramaphosa said out of the blue during the conclusion of an NEC meeting last month that he knew there were ANC members who wanted to get rid of him.
I am aware of comrades in this very room lobbying for my removal because they are unhappy with their positions.
— Cyril Ramaphosa
Since then, the ANC has closed ranks around Ramaphosa.
Fikile Mbalula, the party’s secretary-general, emphasised at various media conferences last month that the national general council (NGC) would not be abused to get rid of Ramaphosa. That meeting begins tomorrow in Ekurhuleni.
Gungubele was one of the leaders of Ramaphosa’s campaign to be re-elected.
READ: ANC leagues rally behind Ramaphosa as murmurs for his removal swell
According to sources, Gungubele believes his name is being misused to sow division in the NEC and thereby undermine Ramaphosa’s leadership.
“A suggestion that I am part of a movement to remove the current president of the ANC needs the best possible psychiatric assessment. Because it must be part of sickness to assert falsehood at all costs,” Gungubele said on X last week.
I am comfortable, though, because the rumour that I am behind the removal of the current ANC [leader] has found its way into the processes of the organisation, where the truth will set us all free.
— Mondli Gungubele
Phaahla dismissed the allegations in a statement as “utter rubbish and pure hogwash”.
According to him, those behind the rumours want to drive a wedge between him and the president.
Oscar Mabuyane, Eastern Cape premier, defended Gungubele and Phaahla at a party meeting in East London on Wednesday.
That’s a lie. It’s an extreme, extreme manipulation of facts. It’s a fabrication. But, unfortunately, it’s done by some among us to perpetuate a particular, harmful narrative ... to defocus the ANC.
— Oscar Mabuyane
The publication reported last week that Mabuyane allegedly had aspirations to be elected to the ANC’s top seven in a plan allegedly forged together with Deputy President Paul Mashatile.
Gungubele and Mabuyane ’ncome from the ANC’s Chris Hani district in the Eastern Cape, like Gwede Mantashe, ANC chairperson and minister of mineral resources.
The publication learnt that Mantashe also shielded Gungubele and Phaahla behind the scenes last week.
According to sources, at last week’s NEC meeting, where the party’s readiness for the NGC was discussed, there was a renewed wake-up call among NEC members that Ramaphosa should continue with his term as ANC leader until it expires in 2027.
READ: Mbalula slams Ramaphosa ‘ghost stories’, dismisses rumours of resignation
This comes despite talk of an NEC rebellion after Ramaphosa urged ANC councillors in September to approach DA-controlled municipalities about how to improve audit results for municipalities.
He told the approximately 4 000 councillors: “There’s nothing wrong with us saying we want to go see what [DA-controlled] Cape Town does, we want to go see what [DA-controlled] Stellenbosch does, how they put everything together. We must climb the ladder or be good at what we do; we can’t stay at the bottom forever. It pains me deeply when I keep seeing that our municipalities tend to even move backwards, and you are the people who can improve this.”
There was tension in the NEC at the time over the DA’s continued participation in the GNU. This after the DA first opposed plans to increase VAT and then withdrew from the national dialogue.
Rapport learnt there are still ANC members from the former Radical Economic Transformation faction who are still working for Ramaphosa’s removal, but that their support is so minimal that it makes no real impact in the party.
