‘Very angry’ Zuma throws down gauntlet
JACOB ZUMA has thrown down the gauntlet to ANC members who want him to quit as president of South Africa.
“He’s invited them,” said a source close to Zuma, “to ‘remove me – if you dare’.”
This as reports surfaced last night of an urgent meeting of the ANC’s “Top 6” leaders, to be followed by a reshuffle of the cabinet. Further reports said some ministers had been summoned to the Union Buildings.
Zuma had reportedly summoned the other five top leaders, Cyril Ramaphosa‚ Baleka Mbete‚ Gwede Mantashe‚ Zweli Mkhize and Jessie Duarte, to his official residence in Pretoria, Mahlambandlovu, at 6.30pm.
Earlier in the day Zuma had addressed the House of Traditional Leaders sitting in Cape Town and immediately flew to Pretoria.
In the past few days, the battle for the soul of the ANC has moved into overdrive, with both the president and his opponents moving decisively to play their hand.
The source accused some ANC members of working with the EFF and the DA in a bid to remove him.
The SACP claimed yesterday Zuma was intent on replacing Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and his deputy, Mcebisi Jonas, based on an adverse intelligence report, Operation Checkmate, which claimed the pair were about to plot with foreign backers to effect regime change, which the party rejected as absurd.
SACP deputy secretary Solly Mapaila said they decided to divulge confidential discussions held with Zuma and other top leaders because of “selective and factional leaking of discussions” to the media that they were, in fact, in favour of the axing.
“We objected to the reshuffle,” Mapaila told reporters in Johannesburg.
At the same time, a rumour began circulating that a compromise “deal had been brokered that would see the president stepping down within 12 months, if Gordhan and Jonas were to leave office”.
But the source said: “That’s rubbish. It’s just disinformation being spread by Zuma’s opponents.
They’re using a story from Reuters, which is not known for the accuracy of its reports about South African politics.
“Zuma is very angry. This is not the way he operates. He will not quit. He intends fulfilling his term. He believes he has vast majority support across the country – and that this majority will enable him to beat off the challenge of those who want him out.
“One of the other pieces of disinformation had secretary-general Gwede Mantashe trying to persuade Zuma to step down. But whoever spread this rumour simply circulated an anonymous tweet picked up from Twitter.”
The source said Zuma had the support he needed in the cabinet and in the NEC Top 6. But while he admitted the president’s support needed to be tested in the ANC’s parliamentary caucus, he said Zuma also knew he had overwhelming support in regions such as Nelson Mandela Bay and eThekwini.
“He is very strong in the party.”
But the anti-Zuma group within the party, led by former president Kgalema Motlanthe, has not been standing back. Delivering the eulogy at the funeral of Ahmed Kathrada on Wednesday, Motlanthe quoted from a letter written by the Struggle veteran, in which he asked the president to resign.
Mourners, including cabinet ministers such as Aaron Motsoaledi, rose and applauded. ANC luminary Winnie Madikizela-Mandela smiled.
The Zuma camp was very angry, accusing Motlanthe of using the funeral to wage a campaign against the president.
Asked to comment, spokesperson in the Presidency Bongani Ngqulunga requested questions in writing, but had not responded by deadline.
Mapaila also said the SACP had written to the directorgeneral of intelligence and Minister David Mahlobo complaining about the tapping of SACP leaders’ phones and death threats, but no action had been forthcoming.
So serious were the threats the SACP treasurer was almost assassinated and had to withdraw from Parliament as an MP, he said.