Zuma recall ‘could split ANC’

PEOPLE who persisted with calls for the ANC to recall its besieged leader, President Jacob Zuma, as the head of state were insensitive to the fact that doing so could lead to the party splitting.

This was the assertion of ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe yesterday as he sought to defend the party’s reluctance to order Zuma to resign, in the wake of the litany of controversies associated with his administration.

Mantashe criticised those he suggested were obsessed with removing Zuma, and said they should instead be “giving us space to manage problems” associated with his administration.

“You think we must just fire Zuma, and if the ANC splits, it splits. There is unfairness in the way you put these cases to us,” he said during a round-table discussion with journalists at the ANC’s Luthuli House headquarters in Johannesburg.

Mantashe had to field tough questions from journalists.

“The analysts say fire Zuma now, and what happens after is not their business. It’s our business,” he said.

Mantashe also said there was a deliberate and desperate attempt by the opposition “to dislodge” the ANC from power by targeting the legislative and executive functions of the judiciary.

“South Africans must be very wary of pushing our country towards that direction,” Mantashe said.

He added that there would not be a witch-hunt of ANC MPs who had voted against Zuma in the vote of no-confidence. He was quick to warn, though, that the ANC would deal with those who publicly admitted to voting against the party.

Axed tourism minister Derek Hanekom, who chairs the ANC’s disciplinary committee, is among ANC MPs who had said they would vote with their consciences.

He has used social media to challenge some of the ANC’s decisions.

Mantashe lamented: “His tweets compromise him as chairperson of the committee. He tweets every morning on every issue.”