Is it me, or are Jacob Zuma's warnings to ANC dissidents planning their own party both vaguely ominous and toothless?
They strike me as ominous because of their threatening nature that will almost certainly stifle not only true threats to the party from within, but also legitimate dissent on important issues. Party discipline is one thing. Forced unanimity is quite another.
But the threats also ring as ultimately empty, because by definition those who are entertaining notions of splitting from the ANC will no longer be beholden to the party if they do move on to a new organization. Barring the ANC fomenting an even more serious political crisis by trying to punish those who leave the party, it is unclear what Zuma and party leaders could do to those who stray for what they perceive as greener pastures.