An opportunistic assault – ANC hits back at Mchunu and Gigaba

The African National Congress (ANC) has lambasted senior party officials Senzo Mchunu and Malusi Gigaba for scathing comments that they made about the party over the weekend.

The ANC, who vowed consequences, called the remarks from Mchunu and Gigaba “opportunistic” that portrayed “the organisation as divided, incoherent and collapsing.”

Over the weekend, suspended police minister and ANC national executive committee (NEC) member Mchunu warned that the ANC is on the verge of collapse, and that serious intervention is needed.

“If we do not win municipalities in the upcoming local government next year, come the national government elections we will be history,” said Mchunu.

“We know that people still love the ANC … We became big-headed and started taking them for granted and they punished us.”

During the same weekend, former minister and NEC member Gigaba delivered a stinging rebuke of the ANC’s NEC, saying in an interview with the Sunday Times that the party’s top body is failing.

Gigaba said that the ANC NEC is struggling under “extremely difficult conditions,” hampering its ability to lead South Africa’s democratic project.

He said the ANC is “no longer the parliament of the people … except in name,” and criticised the party for being “inward-looking and self-absorbed.” Gigaba urged the ANC to consider a “candid self-reflection.”

In response, ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu said that that their comments “amount to deliberate de-campaigning of the ANC.”

“Their remarks do not reflect the views of any legitimate structure of the movement and must be seen as an opportunistic assault on the collective image, credibility, and cohesion of the ANC.”

Bhengu said that divisive statements undermine unity, weaken public confidence, and “embolden forces that have long sought to reverse the gains of our revolution.”

She added that the ANC will take steps against the NEC members to correct this “ill-discipline.”

Mchunu’s and Gigaba’s scandals

The comments come from members of the ANC NEC who are no stranger to controversy.

Mchunu has long been a high-ranking official in the ANC. He served as the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, Minister of Public Service and Administration, Water and Sanitation and most recently, Police.

President Cyril Ramaphosa placed Mchunu on gardening leave following serious allegations levelled against him.

In a July press conference that took South Africa by storm, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Commissioner of Police, Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi alleged that a sophisticated criminal syndicate has infiltrated law enforcement and intelligence structures. 

Mkhwanazi alleged that Mchunu, as police minister interfered with sensitive police investigations and colluded with business people, including a murder accused, to disband the Political Killings Task Team based in KwaZulu-Natal.

Mchunu, a close ally of Ramaphosa, has fiercely denied these allegations.

He also alleged that a police investigation by the task team in Gauteng unmasked a syndicate controlled by a drug cartel.

Mkhwanazi alleged that it involves politicians, law enforcement officials from the police service and metro police, correctional services, prosecutors and the judiciary, and business people.

“These allegations, if proven true, threaten to undermine the confidence of South Africans in the ability of the South African Police Service to protect them and to effectively fight crime and corruption,” Ramaphosa said in an address.

Gigaba was among the most notorious figures in former Chief Justice Raymond Zondo’s state capture report, accused of allowing the Gupta family to influence state-owned entities — a claim he has vehemently denied.

During former president Jacob Zuma’s tenure going into Ramaphosa’s, he served as Minister of Public Enterprises, Finance and Home Affairs.

Following a brief hiatus from frontline ANC politics, he returned to Parliament following the 2024 general elections. He was then elected as co-chairperson of Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Defence.