Chance for ANC MPs to put country first
ANC MPs are in an unenviable position. The coming motion of no confidence has them in a fix. Two former presidents, Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe, have put forward compelling arguments, encouraging them to vote with their conscience and to do what is in the national interest.
Presidential hopeful Cyril Ramaphosa should be leading from the front by joining the call by respected party leaders for MPs to vote in the national interest. But this means not following the ANC line that no party MP should support a motion of no confidence against President Jacob Zuma.
This is the most glaring example since 1994 of the ANC working against the national interest and a staggering number of party MPs know it. While Zuma’s backers have vowed to fight attempts at “regime change”, the ANC’s grip on the imagination of the society it led to freedom continues to wane. Ironically, it is Zuma himself who is leading the governing party down the road to destruction and accelerating the onset of the party’s electoral losses and the very regime change his backers fear. Those wanting to see the ANC out of power do not have to work for it — by simply sitting back and allowing Zuma and his coterie of followers to continue doing what they are doing, they will achieve their goals.
ANC MP Makhosi Khoza’s Facebook post on Sunday reflected the pain, fear and frustration party loyalists in Parliament are going through. Under the title Leadership injudiciousness: deleterious to ANC relevance and life span, she wrote: “When society stands up, leave the comfort of their home … they make an agonising call to the leader of their society, revoltingly its leader chooses to see conspiracies of different shades and forms and not unity of purpose. I concede this may be the most definitive sign of irrelevance and chronic leadership incapacity.”
The resignations of fired ministers indicate the difficulty many face when confronted with the motion. The decision they must make is far from easy — how do people face their families and children when their own actions make them complicit in the destruction of the movement they love and of their country?
The United Democratic Movement’s (UDM’s) court bid to obtain clarity on a secret ballot is a significant step, but a long shot. A secret ballot would make it easier for MPs to vote with their conscience, but it will be clear that ANC MPs supported the motion should it succeed and there will be repercussions. It would plunge the ANC into crisis and force it to act, something it has been unable to do with any impact for a long time.
Its veterans insist the integrity commission made a finding against Zuma and called for disciplinary action against him, but the ANC did not implement it and is now demonising the very integrity commission tasked with protecting its image and reputation. Party secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said a letter written by the commission calling on Zuma to step down was “withdrawn” because some members of the commission claimed “not to have seen it”. It is laughable — the mother body discrediting and delegitimising its own commission whose task is critical in restoring the party’s image that has been tarnished by the Zuma presidency.
Another ANC MP, Mathole Motshekga, told News24 on Wednesday the party should hold a special national executive committee (NEC) meeting to deal with growing calls for Zuma to resign.
The possible postponement of the motion of no confidence due to the UDM’s court action on a secret ballot should provide ample opportunity for the ANC’s NEC to provide proper direction on Zuma’s future. It was bizarre that the party did not hold an NEC meeting after Zuma’s destructive cabinet reshuffle, instead relying on its national working committee (NWC) and provincial party barons, who are stuffed deep in Zuma’s pockets. ANC leaders who questioned the holding of an extended NWC instead of a special NEC say this was a calculated move as the president and his backers doubt whether they continue to enjoy an absolute majority in the latter.
The motion represents a prime opportunity for the party to deal with the Zuma issue once and for all. But its MPs will not do it, secret ballot or not. South Africans will remember they did not act when they had the chance.
Each motion of no confidence in Zuma proposed since 2016 has further eroded the ANC’s standing in society and further entwined its fate with that of its president. Opposition party leaders such as Julius Malema and Mmusi Maimane know their motions will not yield results, but also recognise the damage it does to brand ANC. When Zuma goes, it is increasingly likely he will take the party down with him.
THE RESIGNATIONS OF FIRED MINISTERS INDICATE THE DIFFICULTY MANY FACE WHEN CONFRONTED WITH THE MOTION