Is it tickets for Zuma?
President’s detractors, emboldened by Sona postponement, are going for the kill
THE POSTPONEMENT of the State of the Nation address (Sona) was welcomed in most quarters and all eyes are on the ANC’s leadership to see if they will recall President Jacob Zuma. ANC NEC meeting planned for today to deal with Zuma was called off late last night.
Parliament may have brushed off the reasoning behind the move, saying the postponement was decided after concerns around calls for disruption at the sitting and fears that it was not a “conducive environment” but, political parties and analysts do not believe this, describing it as a “farce”.
The ANC caucus in Parliament will also meet tomorrow to discuss the Sona postponement and its implications.
Despite the development, opposition parties are demanding a motion of no confidence before any Sona, if Zuma was not removed by the ANC.
A source in the NEC said the “sands have shifted” and the Zuma group will not succeed. He said ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa had the upperhand, and more people in the NEC would favour Zuma’s removal.
ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu said the caucus would discuss the issue and take a decision. “Caucus has not discussed the matter,” he said.
Zuma’s detractors were planning to force the NEC to take a firm decision that he should leave the country’s highest office.
Independent Media has established from several NEC members opposed to Zuma that if it came to the push, there would be a vote to force a clear decision for him to step down.
His detractors were angered by his refusal to quit at the meeting he had with the ANC Top Six leaders on Sunday night.
They were now going for the kill, emboldened by the postponement of the Sona, which Zuma and his supporters, including ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule, were adamant he would deliver tomorrow.
But Zuma, who has survived the previous two attempts to oust him in the NEC, won’t go down without a fight.
Ramaphosa previously called for Zuma not to be humiliated, even if he were to be removed.
ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte also said the party’s top brass would have to be clear on its decision about Zuma’s fate as this had confused the nation.
“It is important for us to have a clear decision that will guide everyone. We will make a decision and we will make it known very clearly in unequivocal terms – it will be told as it is made.”
The EFF has welcomed the postponement. “We welcome this as a move towards the removal of Zuma from the highest office in the land. We reiterate our call for the motion of no confidence to take place before Sona.
“We know that even if the ANC NEC were to recall him, Zuma will not step down,’’ the EFF said in a statement.
Political analyst Somadoda Fikeni said the Sona postponement was the “most emphatic” indication that power was slipping away from Zuma.
Fikeni believed this to be a sign Zuma may very soon relinquish his duties as the country’s president.
“This is historic as Sona has never been postponed before but Jacob Zuma has broken many records. No president in South Africa since 1994 has faced a possibility of impeachment,” he said.
It is only a matter of time before Zuma steps down, said analyst Imraan Buccus.
He said the decision was both strategic and wise.
“It makes no sense for a president who is on his way out to deliver a speech that is meant to inspire confidence in South Africans,” he said.
Buccus commended the opposition parties for being “on the ball”, saying the news of the postponement did not come as much of a surprise with the opposition parties’ hard work to ensure Zuma did not deliver the Sona.
“Technically we do not have a president. That is the long and short of it. It’s great that Zuma is going but I am not sure about the approach to it,” analyst Lukhona Mnguni said shortly after the announcement.
He said the postponement displayed how ineffective the ANC was at managing its internal politics.
“There is nothing to celebrate when factional politics spill into the arena of governance in such unprecedented terms.
“The day South Africans realise the need for much more competitive politics is the day you will not have something of this nature occurring.
“The ANC is merely riding on concerns of the opposition to hide how debased a party they have become,” Mnguni said in a tweet yesterday.
Analyst Daniel Silke predicted that Zuma may cling to power for another few days.
“It’s a messy transition that needs a decisive resolution.
“If it’s tough to remove the president in time, you remove his showpiece platform,” Silke said.
POSTPONEMENT of tomorrow’s Sona is a watershed for democratic South Africa, but also not a complete surprise. What was indeed a surprise was the reasons offered.
Parliament’s presiding officers, Thandi Modise and Baleka Mbete, claim being dismayed that the past four years, disruptions have been a characteristic of Sona.
“Developments this year, particularly the calls for disruption and/ or postponement of the Joint Sitting, have therefore caused us great concern. We have regrettably come to the conclusion that there is little likelihood of an uneventful Joint Sitting. With this in mind, we decided to approach the president to propose that we postpone the Joint Sitting in order to create room for establishing a much more conducive political atmosphere in Parliament. When we met the president, we then learnt that he was already writing to Parliament to ask for the postponement of Sona.”
This is absolute bollocks. How could they not know Zuma has lately come under immense pressure to resign and this is the real reason for the postponement.
Zuma’s office said he requested the postponement “due to certain developments”, which make it not conducive to have Sona.
From the two statements it is clear Zuma and the presiding officers held prior discussions about Sona for them to come to the same conclusion.
Not all South Africans are stupid and appreciate having their intelligence undermined. If there were concerns about disruptions, what exactly will be different at the now postponed Sona?
The facts are that Zuma is under pressure from inside and outside the ANC. They want him to go, and rightly so. This man has become an embarrassment to his party and the country. His presidency has been marked by allegations of corruption, a floundering economy and some dysfunctional state institutions.
This president has caused untold damage to his nation. The ANC is to hold a special national executive meeting today, ostensibly to discuss Zuma’s future. This meeting was obviously necessitated by his stubbornness to stay put, despite the writing being on the wall.
It is time ANC NEC members put the interests of the country before that of the party. The country has endured enough of this failed president. They must tell Zuma to leave and to leave immediately.