The ANC in Gauteng must either be desperate to stay in power or unconcerned about service delivery, or both, to have agreed to include the EFF’s Nkululeko Dunga in the provincial cabinet.
Premier Panyaza Lesufi has appointed Dunga, the EFF provincial leader, as Gauteng finance MEC — putting him in charge of the bank accounts of South Africa’s, and the continent’s, economic powerhouse.
One expects the chief finance honcho of Gauteng to come highly recommended and qualified. Not Dunga. His previous experience includes being MMC for finance in corruption-soaked Ekurhuleni, where he oversaw a R51.2bn budget. Under his stewardship, Ekurhuleni failed to pass a budget twice.
In 2024 the ANC mayor of Ekurhuleni, Nkosindiphile Xhakaza, fired Dunga as finance MMC because of “unforeseen misalignments”. Xhakaza later revealed that Dunga was shown the door because of failure to perform to the standard expected of a municipal finance chief. Apparently the guy just never pitched up for work.
“We went to a lekgotla of the mayoral committee, he was not there, he was absent without an apology … In the mayoral [service delivery] war room, he was not there,” he said.
In 2023, after Dunga was involved in a car crash in which someone was killed, ActionSA opened a case against him, accusing him of, among other things, travelling in a private vehicle that was fitted with blue lights in contravention of Ekurhuleni’s VIP protection policy.
Even the generally laidback ANC in Ekurhuleni was appalled by Dunga. The ANC chief whip in the metro, Jongizizwe Dlabathi, said an internal governance report found Dunga wanting.
“The report pointed to fundamental weaknesses on how the budget process has been handled, as well as the seriously regressing financial position of the city, a matter we have long raised with no notable effort to turn around the dire situation,” Dlabathi said.
Lesufi has now promoted this man to head the province’s finances. Even the ANC’s own placid internal structures are shocked
Lesufi has now promoted this man to head the province’s finances. Even the ANC’s own placid internal structures are shocked. The ANC Veterans League says it is disappointed that Lesufi could entrust billions to a man who was relieved of his position in Ekurhuleni after allegations of poor financial performance and noncompliance.
So, what’s really going on here? Well, just say goodbye to service delivery in Gauteng under the ANC. With this appointment, the party is saying loud and clear that it has no interest in accountable government. It’s quite happy to replicate the mess in Ekurhuleni at provincial level.
The EFF has said many times in the past that it wants to see the ANC out of power. Since its founding in 2013 and entry into electoral politics following local elections in 2016, the EFF has played a “kingmaker role”, partnering with virtually every player in the field. It has lain with the DA and hunted with the ANC in some metros. It has betrayed some collaborators and then gone back to them. It has flip-flopped on key issues, going from vowing never to govern alongside the alleged thieves in the ANC to happily putting its snout in the trough alongside these erstwhile adversaries.
Yet, at every point, the EFF has been adamant that it wants to see the ANC out of power. Two years ago, the ANC’s head of political education, David Makhura, accused the EFF of abusing its coalition partnerships with the ANC to undermine the governing party’s support.
“The EFF uses coalitions to contest the ANC’s social base and further damage its brand,” he said.
This is the context in which the Lesufi appointment of Dunga should be seen. Lesufi, whose party won a paltry 34.7% in the provincial elections in 2024 (the DA came dangerously close to toppling it with 27.4%, while the EFF came in at 12.9%), realises the end is nigh. Co-opting Dunga means looting by party members can continue through to their last days in power in 2029. Or, in coalition, beyond that.
The EFF wins either way: it can still tell its support base that its mission is accomplished — the ANC in Gauteng will be destroyed and out of power completely in 2029. Or the EFF will be manipulating it through its “kingmaker” position in a coalition.
Lesufi believes that he has saved his ANC from loss of power by co-opting Dunga. He has just accelerated his own party’s demise.
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