South Africa’s ANC to discuss Zuma’s future
JOHANNESBURG: South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) met yesterday to discuss President Jacob Zuma’s future amid growing pressure on the 75-year-old leader to step down as head of state over corruption allegations and a weakened economy. Zuma, in power since 2009, has been deserted by prominent allies since being replaced in December as ANC leader by Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s deputy president, who is now lobbying behind the scenes for him to step down as president too.
But overnight talks with top ANC officials failed to persuade him to quit, and a group of Zuma loyalists said they would march yesterday on the party’s headquarters in downtown Johannesburg, Luthuli House, in support of the president. ANC officials said the party had summoned its National Working Committee (NWC) to meet at 1200 GMT at Luthuli House.
The NWC handles the day-to-day running of the ANC, which has run South Africa since the end of white minority rule in 1994. It would need to call a meeting of the National Executive Committee to force Zuma to quit. Asked about the ongoing talks surrounding Zuma, ANC spokeswoman Khusela Diko said: “There is no crisis within the ANC, we are used to robust discussions.” The ANC’s top six most powerful officials met Zuma late on Sunday at his official residence in Pretoria but there was no announcement of the outcome. After the pro-Zuma group Black First Land First announced its march yesterday, a pro-Ramaphosa faction of the ANC said it would “defend” Luthuli House, raising the prospect of clashes between different camps within the party. The ANC said it respected the right of citizens to protest in a disciplined and peaceful manner. “We trust those who protest today will do so in a manner that does not undermine the genuineness ... of their cause,” it said in a statement.
State of nation address
The rand, which has tended to strengthen on signs that Zuma could step down before his second term as president ends next year, was slightly firmer yesterday. Opposition parties and some in the ANC want Zuma to go before his state of the nation address to parliament, scheduled for Thursday.
Zuma has not said in public whether he will step down voluntarily. But he faces a new confidence-vote in parliament against his leadership on Feb. 22 filed by the opposition far-left Economic Freedom Fighters party (EFF). The EFF has asked the speaker of parliament, Baleka Mbete, to allow a secret ballot for the no-confidence vote, a decision which would increase the chances of Zuma losing the vote.
Unlike in August when Zuma survived a no-confidence vote, a significant portion of the ANC now wants him gone. If he lost the vote, his entire cabinet would have to step down. Zuma will meet Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini at 1200 GMT yesterday at the king’s residence in Ulundi in the Kwa-Zulu Natal province, said Prince Thulani Zulu, a spokesman for the Zulu royal household. —Reuters