Deputy President Paul Mashatile has emerged as the ANC’s most visible leader in recent weeks, delivering high-profile addresses while openly challenging the DA’s role in South Africa’s Government of National Unity (GNU). His aggressive posturing reveals deeper political calculations as the ANC prepares for its critical National General Council (NGC) meeting later this year – a key battleground for leadership positioning ahead of the 2027 elective conference.
At the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation breakfast in Johannesburg, Mashatile chastised DA ministers for rejecting the GNU budget while remaining in cabinet, asking: “I’m not sure what they are thinking.” Notably absent was any acknowledgment of the ANC’s controversial VAT hike – a policy that contradicts the party’s pro-poor rhetoric.
The NGC Factor
The upcoming NGC represents the first major opportunity since 2018 for ANC factions to challenge President Cyril Ramaphosa’s leadership outside an elective conference. With Ramaphosa’s “new dawn” narrative faltering amid economic stagnation and unfulfilled reform promises, ambitious successors like Mashatile are distancing themselves from his administration.
Political analysts note Mashatile’s sudden prominence reflects his attempt to position himself as the standard-bearer for anti-DA factions within the tripartite alliance. His recent declaration that the DA has “defined itself out” of the GNU signals a strategic pivot toward smaller parties, including the IFP, Patriotic Alliance, and UDM.
Coalition Calculus
The deputy president’s maneuvers threaten to unravel the current governing arrangement:
- He advocates replacing the DA with an unstable coalition of eight smaller parties
- Gauteng ANC leader Panyaza Lesufi has amplified this message, accusing the DA of “wanting to be in government and opposition simultaneously”
- The SACP and Gauteng ANC structures strongly back this realignment
This faction believes even working with the EFF or MK Party might prove preferable to maintaining the DA partnership. Such a shift could create a precarious governing arrangement where minor parties wield disproportionate influence.
Ramaphosa’s Waning Authority
As Mashatile accelerates his campaign:
- The NGC may serve to legitimize the coalition overhaul
- Ramaphosa faces growing isolation within his own party
- The ANC’s 2027 leadership race has effectively begun
The coming months will test whether South Africa’s political center can hold or if Mashatile’s ambitions will precipitate a governmental crisis. With the NGC poised to become a referendum on both the GNU and Ramaphosa’s leadership, the deputy president’s recent ubiquity appears less about statesmanship and more about succession politics. The stability of South Africa’s unprecedented coalition government now hangs in the balance.
