De Beer: How Zuma-Ace pact will hurt ANC, boost Multi-Party Charter

With only months before the national elections, some political figures are making big moves.  Neil de Beer - who spent 32 years in the African National Congress (ANC), but left in disgust to form the United Independent Movement (UIM), a party that has joined the multi-party charter to oust the ruling ANC - speaks to BizNews about how the “United Front” formed by the new political parties of former President Jacob Zuma (MK) and former Free State Premier and ANC SG Ace Magashule (ACT - African Congress for Transformation) will damage the ANC, but bolster the Multi-Party Charter.  “…every day that another group splinters from the ANC…that 50 plus 1 becomes much more realistic to obtain,” he says. De Beer talks about the Economic Freedom Front’s (EFF) need for a “bigger brother”; the retirement of Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma whose Presidential ambitions were narrowly thwarted by Cyril Ramaphosa; the election prospects of the Multi-Party Charter; the rumoured election date of 22 May; and the strategy to beat the ANC’s election-winning trick of bussing in millions to vote. He also deals with the “dark side” of politics that has kept Police Minister Bheki Cele in his job - despite a clear lack of qualifications and performance. - Chris Steyn