ANC Gauteng Chairman and Premier Panyaza Lesufi has vowed to go toe to toe with the Democratic Alliance which he accuses of hijacking the liberation movement.
Lesufi who addressed the ANC 113th anniversary rally in Alexandra, outside Johannesburg said the former opposition ( now partner in the Government of National Unity) was using its position in the coalition to negatively influence internal ANC affairs.
Lesufi said the DA was targeting in particular the Gauteng Provincial Executive Committee he leads in retaliation after he left it out of his cabinet.
“We are running government here in Gauteng without the DA. We left them out because we don’t want them, we don’t need Helen Zille, we don’t need the DA. Those who want to work with the DA must not impose the DA on us,” said Lesufi.
Lesufi also suggested the DA may be supported by individuals within the ANC whom he warned should stay out of the way when his provincial executive committee confronts the DA.
“You must sharpen your spears comrades and fight to reclaim the ANC from the DA, reclaim our movement from Helen Zille. When we do so those among us who are in leadership and are cowards must step aside so that we can reclaim our organisation,” said Lesufi to great applause from the packed Alexandra Stadium.
Lesufi’s rejection of the DA has pitted him against the ANC top leadership in particular President Cyril Ramaphosa and Secretary General Fikile Mbalula who brokered the deal with the DA in the name of ‘stability’ and are now seen as retailing through a so-called ‘intervention’ in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal where the party lost the most votes in the 2024 general elections.
Lesufi welcomed the intervention but equally threw shade at the motives behind it vowing to not go anywhere.
“We welcome the support and intervention of the national leadership because we did not do well but those who want some of us removed must know that we are going nowhere, we are going nowhere, they can go wherever they go and they will still find us here, we are not going anywhere, we are not cowards,” he said.
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