Faizel Patel – 10/02/2021
Political analyst Nic Borain says the coverage given to the Nkandla tea party was like giving oxygen to a fire.
Borain was speaking to Radio Islam on Wednesday about the tea-party at Nkandla between former president Jacob Zuma and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema last weekend.
The foray remains a thread on social media, dinner conversations and the mainstream media.
Borain says the main speculation is the tea party is a strategic move cooked up between Zuma and African National Congress (ANC) secretary-general Ace Magashule to run president Cyril Ramaphosa out of office or that Malema was tasked to persuade Zuma to appear before the Zondo Commission.
Borain says he did not plan to add to the verbiage, but saw the headline in a leading newspaper: The Great Tea Party Fightback.
“I thought to myself leave it aside. But then, I realised it was being used as the moment at which major newspapers like City Press were going to outline or leak strategist views from the Zuma camp who were fighting against the fightback campaign of Cyril Ramaphosa.”
Borain says Malema’s objective in requesting the tea party has a broader agenda.
“I do think that Julius’ strategy was always to go out, take a youth core and the ANC because of the demographic decline facing it, young people not voting for it would be forced to vote to bring them back and that would give Julius a clear shot at the presidency. I think Julius has always been that kind of politician. He knows what he wants, he’s clever enough to get it, tactically brilliant at getting the coverage.”
Borain however says Malema and his allies are really going nowhere because they have pitched themselves as this ultra-radical, noisy which has a limited uptake which does not align with normality that South Africans want.
Listen to the interview with Nic Borain
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