13

Tea with Atul

The ANC’s 2012 elective conference in Mangaung reinforced the
political dominance that President Jacob Zuma and his clique first
established at Polokwane five years earlier. Buoyed by a 75 per cent
backing from the party’s internal electorate, the Zuma faction cruised
into a fresh five-year governance cycle with renewed self-assurance.
This unwavering confidence fuelled the audacity with which the
president’s predatory associates in the business world started to loot
the public purse. The next half-decade would see the Zuma-centred
state-capture project mature before reaching its terrible climax. In the
process, South Africa would experience some of its darkest moments.
Ace Magashule and his provincial government were at the centre of
this depressing epoch. Directly after Mangaung, Magashule initiated
the formation of what would become the most significant political
power bloc during Zuma’s second term as party leader. He first teamed
up with the North West ANC chairperson, Supra Mahumapelo, 1 who
became that province’s premier not long thereafter. Mpumalanga
strongman and premier David Mabuza joined later, and by 2015 the
term ‘premier league’ began to appear in reports on this influential
coalition. Political insiders in the Free State told me that Magashule
was the ‘architect’ of this formation. Some of these sources moved very
close to the premier during this period.
The premier league rallied behind Zuma and ensured that the scandal-
ridden president survived attempts by frustrated members of the
party’s NEC to oust him.^2 This manoeuvring was political in nature,