Insiders say ANC in Gauteng is calling for Zuma to resign

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Insiders say ANC in Gauteng is calling for Zuma to resign

2:14 CAT | 12 Apr 2016

The African National Congress (ANC) in Gauteng has resolved that President Jacob Zuma should resign as party and state president‚ according to highly placed insiders.

At an extended provincial executive committee (PEC) meeting held on Monday evening‚ the province decided that Mr Zuma was no longer fit to lead the party, the insiders said.

Gauteng is the first province to defy a decision by the ANC national executive committee (NEC) to support the president.

“ANC Gauteng‚ through its extended PEC meeting‚ resolved that the ANC and State President must resign‚” a source close to the meeting said.

The insider said the resolution was reached through consensus in the early hours of Tuesday.

The Gauteng ANC’s decision to push for Mr Zuma’s axing follows a number of branches in Johannesburg that have written to ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe calling for Mr Zuma’s resignation following the Constitutional Court judgment against him.

Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng ruled that Mr Zuma violated the Constitution in his handling of the Nkandla matter.

Mr Zuma subsequently blamed wrong legal advice for his actions and apologised to the public.

The ANC’s extended national working committee accepted Mr Zuma’s apology last week and instructed its parliamentary caucus to block a motion of no confidence brought by the opposition against the president.

Gauteng ANC leaders were apparently dissatisfied with Mr Zuma’s response to the judgment and were unanimous that he should step down.

Gauteng ANC spokesperson Nkenke Kekana and provincial secretary Hope Papo were unavailable for comment on Tuesday morning.

The ANC in Gauteng has always been at odds with Mr Zuma with provincial chairperson Paul Mashatile vocal on the Nkandla debacle.

The decision by the province might find them in hot water. According to ANC policy‚ a lower structure (a province) cannot undermine a decision of its national leadership — in this case to support the president.

Last week‚ Mr Mantashe singled out ANC Gauteng deputy chairperson and premier David Makhura for saying that the country is more important than loyalty to the organisation.

“Whether it is Makhura or it is the veterans or a branch in the inner city‚ if they talk about the party in public negatively‚ the public will remember that. ANC members‚ we must debate these issues and engage society but if they choose to take public platforms and look good by insulting the president‚ they’ll pay the price obviously.”

Mr Mashatile told the Sunday Times last week that the ANC in Gauteng would not be muzzled by Luthuli House.

“We don’t know what (Mantashe) meant. All I know is that we will say things…If we think things are wrong we will say it. That is our position. We have always worked like that. If the SG (secretary-general) feels there is something wrong, we have said then he must tell us what it is. But we don’t want to engage with him in the media‚” he told the paper.

Source: Business Day Live