THERE'S A WELL-COORDINATED CAMPAIGN WITHIN ANC TO PUBLICLY WEAKEN IT

ANC communication sub-committee chair, Nkenke Kekana, has compared the campaign to that of now-defunct controversial PR firm, Bell Pottinger, which ran a well-funded and coordinated campaign to divide South Africa while protecting the Gupta family, Zuma and his allies.

The African National Congress (ANC)'s top six at the party’s lekgotla in Centurion on 19 January 2020. Picture: @MYANC/Twitter

Tshidi Madia | a day ago

JOHANNESBURG - African National Congress (ANC) national executive committee member and chair of the party’s communication sub-committee, Nkenke Kekana, has told Eyewitness News that there was a targeted and well-coordinated campaign from within the party to publicly weaken it.

Over the past week, there had been numerous audio leaks of private conversations between senior party leaders, including the top six’s recent discussions with former President Jacob Zuma.

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Kekana has compared the campaign to that of now-defunct controversial PR firm, Bell Pottinger, which ran a well-funded and coordinated campaign to divide South Africa while protecting the Gupta family, Zuma and his allies.

The ANC has also decried the formation of the so-called RET forces, which some have described as the early stages of a splinter party.

This week, it was ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte, last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa and a month ago, audio clips of NEC members during a heated meeting.

ALSO READ: Leaking of internal virtual meetings 'unfortunate', says ANC

Numerous confidential discussions continue to find their way to social media.

ANC communications sub-committee chair, Kekana, said that there seemed to be a Bell Pottinger-like operation running in the governing party.

"Confidential meetings are leaked out in the public, very organised on social media and we are concerned about it, we are concerned about this Bell Pottinger-type of operation."

Kekana said that this distorted and undermined ANC messages.

He told Eyewitness News that there was an urgent need to strengthen the party’s communication in a bid to counter the distortion and manipulation taking place on public platforms.

"It needs to be countered by an organised approach to communications. It's something that we need to look and I'm going to be looking at how do we strengthen the communications in the light of distortion."

While some have suggested an end to virtual meetings, Kekana said that as long as COVID-19 remained a reality, it was unlikely that the large number of NEC members could hold meetings in person.

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