ANC members not to show support for Zuma

ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule says party members should not associate the organisation in any way when giving moral support to former president Jacob Zuma throughout his trial.

The ANC’s national executive committee has called on its rank and file not to use the party’s regalia and colours to show solidarity with Zuma when he appears before court next month.

This follows the reinstatement of criminal charges on 16 counts of fraud, corruption, money laundering and racketeering against Zuma by the National Prosecuting Authority. Weekend reports said Zuma would be summoned this week to appear in the High Court in Durban on April 6.

Zuma’s woes have worsened after it emerged at the weekend that the Hawks were probing him for allegedly accepting a R1 million bribe from a Western Cape abalone dealer in exchange for keeping Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Senzeni Zokwana in his cabinet, according to reports.

Yesterday Magashule said: “Individual members of the ANC and society have the right to express their sympathy and solidarity with the affected persons in their individual capacity, but not through any structures of the movement, including the ANC leagues and the MKMVA. Members involved in such actions are discouraged from displaying ANC paraphernalia and thus creating the false impression that the ANC, as an organisation, identifies with, or approves of, the misdemeanours of which any member or leader maybe accused.”

Magashule was speaking after a three-day NEC meeting in Cape Town at the weekend, which took the decision in Zuma’s presence as he attended as an ex-officio member.

Magashule said the party regarded Zuma as innocent despite his charges on the so-called Spy Tapes saga, as it was a universal principle to presume a person innocent until proven guilty.

He, however, admitted that while the party did not want to be associated with Zuma’s criminal trial – which could dent its image ahead of the crucial 2019 elections – it would be difficult to stop people from defending Zuma.