President Thabo Mbeki’s point man in KwaZulu-Natal, provincial ANC chairman and Premier S’bu Ndebele has been the target of a wave of rejection by ANC members since Jacob Zuma was fired in June.

Ndebele entered the succession debate with a controversial discussion document stressing that the ANC’s constitution allowed Mbeki to stand for a third term as ANC president, unlike the Constitution of the country, which enforces a two-term cap on office.

This, coupled with his early backing of Mbeki’s decision in ANC structures, has re-kindled resentment towards him within his own party. Ndebele was accused of sidelining provincial leaders close to Zuma and the late hardliner Harry Gwala since becoming provincial chair.

Since Zuma’s firing he has been booed and pelted and been the target of insulting songs at ANC events and at Zuma’s court appearance, despite having publicly backed both leaders.

Increasingly isolated, he now faces the daunting — some say impossible — task of asserting control over the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal while trying to appease Zuma’s ever-increasing and emboldened support base.

JOEL NETSHITENZHE

One of Mbeki’s most trusted allies, Netshitenzhe is a key ANC and government strategist. He has avoided becoming involved in most ANC internal squabbles.

Netshitenzhe appears to have become central in defending Mbeki’s decision to axe Zuma from his Cabinet. The ANC Youth League (ANCYL) says he has attempted to convince it to reconsider its position on Zuma.

He was also a key member of the ANC’s delegation that recently met with Cosatu, the SACP and the South African National Civics Organisation over tensions sparked by Zuma’s sacking from Mbeki’s Cabinet. He is understood to have been outspoken at that meeting — something which appears to have caused resentment among Zuma’s supporters.

He was recently criticised by the Youth League for suggesting that by being ANC president or deputy is not a guarantee that one would automatically become the country’s first or second citizen.

BLADE NZIMANDE

Blade Nzimande, the general secretary of the South African Communist Party, has emerged as one of Zuma’s most vociferous backers in public and in private.

Long-time critic of Mbeki’s market-driven economic policies, Nzimande has been the engine behind the revival of the SACP into a political force.

Nzimande was among the first Alliance leaders to begin lobbying support for Zuma after his dismissal in June.

Nzimande is also credited with having swung the SACP’s Central Committee, divided on whether the party should publicly back Zuma, in favour of publicly defending the former deputy president. He is also understood to be one of the driving forces behind the creation of the Friends of Jacob Zuma Trust, the fund-raising organ which will finance Zuma’s court battle with the Scorpions and his broader campaign for political survival.

Nzimande told the vigil before Zuma’s last court appearances that like all other ANC deployees, Mbeki’s presidency was at the ANC’s behest, and not his own, and that he could be removed from office by the same people who elected him to office.

While publicly denouncing the burning of Mbeki T-shirts and heckling, he is set to remain a key backer of Zuma.

ZWELINZIMA VAVI

Labour leader Zwelinzima Vavi probably has done more than any other individual to sell the notion of Zuma as the custodian of left-wing causes within the ruling alliance.

But Vavi, general secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, acknowledges himself that the popular support for Zuma has as much to do with opposition to Mbeki’s style of leadership as it does with Zuma’s track record.

Vavi continues to criticise Mbeki on issues from Zimbabwe to HIV/Aids and, now, the prosecution of Zuma.

FIKILE MBALULA

Under the leadership of its president, Fikile Mbalula, the ANCYL has somersaulted on its previous position of unquestioningly backing Mbeki, by becoming an out-and-out backer of a Zuma presidency.

As the crisis around Zuma deepens, Mbalula is playing an increasingly central role, and was one of the first to come to his defence.

Mbalula suspended his deputy, Ruben Mohlaloga, for publicly expressing his support for a third term for Mbeki as ANC president.

And he has been perhaps the most vociferous critic of Judge Hillary Squires, who found Zuma had conducted a “generally corrupt relationship” with his financial adviser, Schabir Shaik.

Mbalula has refused to back down on this in the face of pressure from the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC).

When Mbeki’s confidant Netshitenze was dispatched to inform the ANCYL of the ANC leadership’s displeasure over the attack on Judge Squires, telling them to stop making “uninformed” statements about the judge and his judgment, he became the target of verbal attacks from Mbalula.

The ANCYL dismissed this intervention, saying they did not need “anyone’s permission to think”.

BUTI MANAMELA

Buti Manamela, 26, shot to prominence when he was elected the secretary of the Young Communist League last year.

He has repeatedly come to the axed deputy president’s defence.

Manamela argues that the YCL’s support of Zuma is not merely blind defence of a popular leader, but is based on principle as Zuma’s constitutional rights have been violated by the Scorpions and the media.

Manamela has repeatedly provided platforms for Zuma via the YCL, arguing that Zuma remains innocent of corruption until a court finds otherwise.

THE ANC WOMEN’S LEAGUE

THE ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) has taken a back seat and is characteristically silent on the Zuma saga.

The women’s league has not publicly declared its support for him nor sent him a message of support.

It only spoke twice on the Zuma saga — on the succession debate and after the Durban High Court found that his relationship with Shaik was generally corrupt.

After the judgment, the women’s league came out in his support saying Zuma remained the deputy president of the ANC, he remained the deputy president of South Africa and as a league they were behind him because there was no need for them to even think of him resigning. At the time Mbeki had not taken a decision to fire Zuma from his Cabinet.

On the succession debate, women’s league President Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula lashed out at the ANCYL saying it had jumped the gun by pronouncing Zuma as Mbeki’s successor.

This led to the two parties meeting to iron out differences after they had embarrassed the party by publicly showing their differences on the succession issue which the party avoided debating.

The women’s league, however, is seen as “Mbeki’s girls” and never speak against him.

At the ANC national general council in June, the women’s league did not state its position in a meeting where the provinces and party organs like MK veterans and the youth league wanted an explanation on why Zuma was fired and that he should be allowed to participate in party activities.

With acknowledgements to S'bu Ndebele, Paddy Harper, Moipone Malefane, Ndivhuho Mafela, Xolani Xundu and Brendan Boyle.