South Africa\u2019s justice minister fired the latest salvo in a war of words between those who want president Cyril Ramaphosa to remain the ruling party\u2019s head and those who want him ousted in December at a conference where its members will vote on senior leadership positions.<\/p>\n
Minister Ronald Lamola, a Ramaphosa ally, unleashed a verbal attack on tourism minister Lindiwe Sisulu, who is seen as positioning herself as a leader of an opposing wing of the African National Congress.<\/p>\n
He was responding to Sisulu\u2019s recent criticism that the nation\u2019s top judges are \u201cmentally colonized.\u201d Lamola said her comments could not be passed off as debate but as an attack on \u201cthe very institution that is to uphold the constitution\u201d and goes against the grain of everything that the ANC wanted to change before the nation\u2019s first democratic elections in 1994.<\/p>\n
Sisulu appears to be aligning herself with the wing of the party loyal to former president Jacob Zuma. That group has opposed Ramaphosa\u2019s attempts to implement political and economic reforms and crackdown on graft, which plagued Zuma\u2019s time in office.<\/p>\n
Key to Ramaphosa\u2019s drive to renew the party after nine years of scandal under Zuma\u2019s tenure is respect for the rule of law and the rebuilding of the institutions that underpin the constitution.<\/p>\n
Persistent attacks on the judiciary and a drumbeat of corruption scandals under Zuma undermined business confidence.<\/p>\n
Zuma faces a trial over corruption charges linked to a 1990s arms deal and was last year sentenced by the Constitutional Court to 15 months in jail for refusing to testify at an inquiry into state corruption that the government said saw R500 billion ($32 billion) stolen during his rule.<\/p>\n
His imprisonment sparked riots that triggered the worst violence since the end of apartheid, with more than 350 people killed. He is currently appealing an order to return to jail after his release on medical parole was ruled invalid.<\/p>\n
While no one has formally announced the intention to run for party president in December, Ramaphosa is expected to seek a second term.<\/p>\n