President Cyril Ramaphosa is facing one of the most serious internal challenges of his presidency, with Sunday World reporting that deputy ministers Joe Phaahla and Mondli Gungubele have been named at the centre of an alleged “palace coup” to remove him from office. Acting on accounts from multiple ANC NEC insiders, the paper says Ramaphosa’s recent furious outburst at a closed NEC meeting was directed at the two men, who are accused of mobilising support for his ouster after being demoted from full ministers to deputies in the Government of National Unity.
How the alleged plot unfolded
According to Sunday World, the president’s “meltdown” came as he warned comrades that he was aware of people in the very room “lobbying for my removal because they are unhappy with their positions,” while fixing his gaze on Phaahla and Gungubele. Insiders claim this dramatic intervention derailed a planned no‑confidence move inside the 80‑member NEC, where the alleged plotters believed they had the backing of at least 60 members and were preparing to take a “second bite” at unseating him in coming weeks.
Motives and factions behind the rebellion
The report paints the rebellion as driven by a group of aggrieved former ministers who lost powerful portfolios in the GNU reshuffle and now see Ramaphosa’s centrist coalition compromises as a betrayal of ANC traditions. Phaahla, who was removed as health minister, is described as feeling deeply humiliated, while Gungubele is said to resent losing the communications portfolio and being made deputy to a DA minister; both are portrayed as standard‑bearers for a larger “denialist” faction resisting the GNU’s policy direction.
Alleged endgame: replace Ramaphosa, reset the GNU
Sunday World’s sources allege that the “palace coup” enjoys at least the tacit blessing of more powerful figures linked to the ANC’s radical economic transformation wing, who regard the GNU as capitulation to opposition forces. Their supposed goal is to install an interim ANC leader who would steer the party away from the current coalition architecture and back towards a more traditional nationalist, patronage‑heavy model of governance.
Ramaphosa camp hits back
Ramaphosa loyalists quoted in the article insist the president is in no danger of immediate defeat and that the plot will fail because its architects lack both a unifying policy alternative and a credible replacement candidate. They say the president’s public show of anger was part warning shot, part strategy to flush out dissenters ahead of the next NEC, while his inner circle quietly works the phones to shore up support among wavering cadres.
Phaahla and Gungubele’s response
Crucially, Sunday World also records a firm denial from Gungubele, who dismisses talk of a coup as “hogwash” and accuses unnamed comrades of weaponising the media to fight internal ANC battles. Ramaphosa did not mention either man by name in the NEC and Phaahla, whom the paper says could not be reached for comment, has not publicly confirmed or denied the claims, leaving the story as a politically explosive clash between anonymous insiders and the public denials of one of the men now cast as a would‑be king‑slayer.
