The highest ANC policy objective is the National Democratic Revolution (NDR). One needs to understand all ANC policy through this lens. The NDR concept germinated when the ANC abandoned its 1912 liberal roots and embraced communism in the 1950s under heavy Soviet influence.

The understand the NDR, one needs to understand Leninism and the systematic increase of tyranny in Russia under his guidance. Here we find the idea of the "democratic revolution", which is Lenin's terminology, doublespeak really, for expanding state control over the economy.

Not just expanding state control over the economy, but over all of society - over culture itself, in the broadest sense of the word. Lenin's democratic revolution also meant stripping minorities of status, which was uniformly assumed to be unearned or ill-gotten (Kulaks et al).

Lenin's democratic revolution is the inspiration for the ANC's National Democratic Revolution (NDR). This is not just speculation. Aside from the same name, Lenin is directly quoted in a positive light in the ANC's strategy and tactics documents, and invoked in SACP articles.

We also know the NDR is Leninist in core DNA because it invokes the same sort of principles as Lenin's democratic revolution principles. Although Lenin was verifiably a murderous dictator, the ANC does not condemn him, but reveres him.

The ANC openly talks in its strategic meetings & documents about the "2nd phase" of the NDR. This is a much more accelerated, even aggressive, phase. Phase 1 was about securing the strategic command posts of the entire social-economic system. Phase 2 is leveraging that command.

This doesn't mean the ANC is about to unleash Lenin-style mass murders in SA. Remember, Leninism is the DNA of the NDR, not an exact model. We can expect core Leninist principles applied in a modern C21st context, not least of all behind a veil of "constitutional legitimacy."

Phase 2 of the NDR, however, requires a push toward a C21st form of socialism that will be, & is already proving to be, too hard to conceal from local and (importantly) foreign scrutiny. Put more clearly: Phase 2 NDR & constitutional pretense are increasingly incompatible.

Ramaphosa therefore finds himself at the helm, not of "the government", but of Phase 2 of the National Democratic Revolution, & his verbal pretzels about how ANC land machinations are neither a break from the rule of law nor will harm the economy, ring insincere & unbelievable.

Since NDR is core ANC policy & Ramaphosa has been aware of this for decades, it is extremely implausible that Ramaphosa wants to dismantle the NDR from his position as leader. The simpler analysis is that Ramaphosa is elected to get NDR back on track after the Zuma era chaos.

This doesn't mean Ramaphosa is worse than Zuma, only that his election merely implies the shift from the brazen Kleptocracy and institutional decay of Zuma to the more systematic, organised implementation of the NDR, which is the push for even more state control over society.

For example, the planned Ramaphosa reform of state owned enterprises (SOEs) must be understood as a policy first & foremost of legitimacy re-acquisition and retention of commanding heights to save the state and so further the ends of Phase 2 of the NDR. This is important context.

Which brings us to ANC legitimacy & the Trump tweet. Zuma became unpopular among NDR champions b/c he destroyed the legitimacy of the ANC/NDR. All states live on legitimacy, but for those up to something nefarious & at odds with de jure rules, perceived legitimacy is EVERYTHING.

States need legitimacy, internally & externally, to achieve their aims. For the ANC, this means it is desperately trying to rebuild local & foreign legitimacy to put a bullet proof barrier around its NDR plans. But neo-Leninism is incompatible with de jure expectations of New SA.

So the ANC must resort to wide-ranging, cunning, all-hands-on-deck propaganda, doublespeak, lies, obfuscations, faux backtracks and so forth. It will play word games & use rhetorical spaghetti to try embed the true means & ends of the NDR into a legitimate institutional shell.

This is the context into which Trump tweeted about investigating SA land expropriation, & it was a MAJOR BLOW to post-Zuma legitimacy re-acquisition efforts. Trump's tweet shone a spotlight of global scrutiny onto an organisation trying to pull a veil over the duplicitous NDR.

Ppl either nitpicking Trump's words or arguing his tweet could set back land policy efforts, are missing the entire big picture: the ANC is neo-Leninists running a destructive programme in bad faith, and foreign suspicion of this is not only healthy, but scandalously overdue.

With this context, the supposed "progress" between the govt & AgriSA on land expropriation should obviously be treated with immense scepticism. From CODESA to today, the ANC remains masterful at negotiating in essentially bad faith. NDR strategy itself is bad faith writ large.

Meanwhile, as the land debate grabs headlines, the Ramaphosa govt marches on with an unworkable NHI, a totally broken mining charter, stricter business race quotas, & all other manner of de facto property rights violations. In short, the NDR Phase 2 (neo-Leninism) marches on.

What then is the essence of this thread?

That the ANC government's core strategy is a fundamentally bad-faith one that de facto betrays its domestic & international obligations while taking dishonest cover behind de jure "democratic institutions" which it bends to its will.

And further, that this bad-faith strategy should be vehemently criticised & called out in the domestic & international public arena, & put under review in respect of international treaties, agreements & obligations that rely on good faith & SA's progress to a more liberal order.

And lastly, that as the Ramaphosa ANC pursues the NDR so it will run afoul of the rule of law & liberal founding principles & will be exposed (in SA & abroad) as increasingly rogue & duplicitous. It seems, then, that the ANC's crisis of legitimacy may be only just beginning. END