ZUMA MUST GO . . . but we can’t be told by the opposition
Even ’anti’ ANC MPs stiffen loyalty in face of DA ’spam’
SEVERAL ANC MPs want President Jacob Zuma to vacate the Union Buildings — but only when Luthuli House says so.
Senior ANC MPs including former Limpopo premier Cassel Mathale, former youth league president Lulu Johnson and Maesela Kekana told the Sunday Times that although they supported calls for Zuma to leave office, they would not vote in favour of a motion of no confidence against him.
Party chief whip Jackson Mthembu revealed this week that party MPs were under pressure from opposition parties, which have been sending text messages and e-mails in an attempt to persuade them to vote on April 18 to remove Zuma.
Mthembu, himself a known Zuma critic within the ANC, said no ANC MP would vote with the opposition.
Mathale said his frosty relationship with Zuma did not mean he would throw him out of office at the request of the opposition.
“You don’t even have to convince people. We’ll vote with the ANC. We have a president and it’s Zuma. I might not like him but he’s my president, and the next opportunity that will come [to remove him] is in December,” said Mathale, referring to the ANC’s national elective conference.
Johnson, the chairman of the water and sanitation portfolio committee, said he would vote against the motion in line with the ANC’s instruction, but he believed Zuma should still be persuaded to step down through internal ANC channels.
He said he had received 2 000 e-mails calling on him to be guided by his conscience and not the party line.
“This thing was supposed to have been resolved long ago . . . with the president swallowing his pride, agreeing [to resign] in the interest of himself, the ANC, the economy and the country. We’re supposed to have had President Zuma, with all due respect, stepping down.
“Yes, we’re in the majority. Yes, we shall defeat the enemy. Yes, we shall emerge triumphant. But at the end of the day we’re not on an island. There’s a society out there watching us, every step we take,” said Johnson.
Kekana had a similar view, saying he would adhere to his party’s command but believed ANC processes should be used to persuade Zuma to quit the highest office in the land.
“We think that the president should just step down to allow new ideas. But we cannot agree with the enemy [on the motion of no confidence].”
Kekana also confirmed receiving correspondence from the DA urging him to vote with the opposition party.
“My response to them is that it’s not about being against your own comrade. It’s about a principled matter.
“I will simply follow the direction of the caucus,” he said.
Axed former tourism minister Derek Hanekom, who remains an MP, was playing his cards close to his chest.
“I have no comment to make on that whatsoever. We’ll see what happens on the 18th. But I have no comment on the ANC position or on my own position to make,” he said.
Hanekom made headlines last year when, in a closed meeting of the national executive committee of the ANC, he told Zuma to resign.
Makhosi Khoza, chairwoman of the public service and administration portfolio committee, said her inbox was inundated with e-mails from the public about the motion.
But she had not been approached by the opposition.
She declined to comment on how she would vote.
Mathole Motshekga, the chairman of the justice portfolio committee, said Zuma’s fate should be sealed by the ANC itself and not by parliament or the opposition.
“Personally, I don’t think this matter belongs to parliament. I wouldn’t be led by the opposition in dealing with internal matters within the ANC,” he said.
And Justice Minister Mike Masutha said he was keen to defy his doctor’s orders in order to be in parliament next Tuesday to defend Zuma.
Masutha has a heart condition and his doctor has barred him from flying, but he said he would find other means of getting to Cape Town in time for the vote on the motion.
“We’ll come to the defence of the organisation when it is clearly under siege . . . and I think it’s clear how I’ll vote.”
House chairman of the National Assembly Cedric Frolick described e-mails from the DA as “spam”.
“I’m a loyal member of the ANC, not a free agent. I respect the leadership of the ANC and vote with the party line,” he said.
Minister of Small Business Development Lindiwe Zulu said: “Let’s get this very straight: it’s not my vote as an individual, it’s the vote of all ANC MPs. This is not my vote. It’s an ANC vote. We all went into parliament through the ANC. That’s just the bottom line.”
Newly appointed Deputy Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams was happy to toe the party line.
“There’s this thing that suggests that when you vote and toe the party line it is because you don’t have a conscience.
“My conscience is clear about one thing: I am an ANC member first and I represent the ANC in parliament. I do not represent myself,” she said.
We’ll come to the defence of the organisation when it is clearly under siege . . . and I think it’s clear how I’ll vote — Mike Masutha
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