Zuma must toe the line
Party is reaffirmed as centre of power that instructs deployees and can fire those who defy it
Conference gives integrity commission some bite, and president won’t be able to simply ignore its recommendations
The ANC is finally in the position to pin down President Jacob Zuma and now has the ability to hold him accountable and recall him from office.
With Cyril Ramaphosa’s election as ANC president, Zuma holds no position or authority in the party and therefore will cease to be as indomitable as he has been.
With its integrity commission being given binding powers by the party’s 54th national conference, Zuma will no longer be able to dismiss the party’s internal accountability mechanism and can face disciplinary action.
The ANC resolved that the new national executive committee (NEC) should “manage” the issue of two centres of power as Zuma is no longer the party president.
Presenting the conference resolutions to the media yesterday, Fikile Mbalula, head of the subcommittee on organisational renewal, said the ANC was the centre of power and would give direction and mandates to its deployees in the state.
This effectively means that Ramaphosa and the new NEC have authority over Zuma, and he is compelled to implement what they instruct him to do. If he fails to do so, they have the ability to recall him from office.
Mbalula said the resolution on the management of two centres of power did not automatically mean that a recall was in store. If the issue did come up, though, the new NEC of the party was empowered to recall him, as had been the case with Thabo Mbeki in 2008.
The party faced the dilemma of two centres of power after its 2007 conference in Polokwane when Zuma became the party leader while Mbeki was state president.
The situation now is even more difficult as Ramaphosa is Zuma’s deputy in the state while holding political au- thority in the party.
Mbalula said the conference also resolved that there should be a cap on the number of NEC members serving in the state. This will improve accountability to the party.
This resolution reduces the president’s hold on the NEC with so many of them beholden to him for their positions in cabinet.
Mbalula said the national conference resolved that a commission of inquiry into state capture, as recommended by the public protector and confirmed by the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, needed to be appointed “expeditiously”.
Zuma’s failure to do this would mean that he was defying an ANC national conference resolution, providing grounds for a recall.
Management of two centres of power falls to new NEC
The ANC’s elective national conference has come and gone.
While we are none the wiser about the policy direction the governing party will pursue under the new leadership, there is room for optimism that new party president Cyril Ramaphosa represents a break from what his predecessor Jacob Zuma stood for.
The news of Ramaphosa’s election earlier this week buoyed the financial markets and resulted in the rand rallying to a ninemonth high, before retreating over uncertainty about some leaders in the party’s top six structure.
In the same vein, some sections of the business community have expressed their willingness to work with Ramaphosa to restore business confidence.
It is vital that the leadership and the national executive committee sing from the same hymn sheet on issues like combating graft and fixing the economy. It will signal to society that we are on a new trajectory, and that the social and economic stagnation of the Zuma years is behind us.
But a lot also hinges on Ramaphosa’s personality and leadership style. Although the January 8 statement is a collective work of the leadership, he could still use it to set the tone for what the country should expect from the ANC. He needs to show that he is made of sterner stuff and that he is not shy to assert himself when the occasion demands.
There needs to be a sense of coherence between policy positions the party espouses and the policy direction the government is taking. There has been too much cacophony on issues like nuclear energy, free higher education and state capture. What we need now is harmonious voices on such issues.
That will signal there are no two centres of power – one at the Union Buildings and the other at Luthuli House – and that Ramaphosa is in charge. It’s a good thing that he is already in government. Unlike in 2007 when the party forced Thabo Mbeki to appoint Kgalema Motlanthe to oversee the transitional period, Ramaphosa will manage the transition.
If there is a low-hanging fruit Ramaphosa could pluck, it would be to push Zuma to institute the state capture inquiry and to get all those who are implicated in the cabinet to come clean.
The ball is squarely in his court and all eyes are on him.