ANC in secret talks on early Zuma exit

Defiance of party on state capture inquiry adds fuel to push for managed departure

● Senior ANC leaders are engaged in urgent secret talks to negotiate an exit for President Jacob Zuma, possibly as early as next month.

Surprisingly, the talks are being driven by close allies of the president who are trying to negotiate a way for Zuma to leave office without him being embarrassed.

With Cyril Ramaphosa having been elected ANC president this week, concerns are growing among people close to Zuma that there will be immediate attempts to recall him.

Tomorrow Anglican Church Archbishop Thabo Makgoba is expected to exert pressure on Ramaphosa to force Zuma out. Church insiders say Makgoba would use his Christmas sermon to call on the national executive committee, backed by the party’s MPs, to act “boldly and quickly” to remove Zuma.

Yesterday Zuma gave his enemies ammunition to call for his head as early as the first NEC meeting next month, when he lodged an appeal against a judgment by the High Court in Pretoria that ordered him to establish a commission of inquiry into state capture. The 11-page appeal cites about 20 grounds on which Zuma will argue against rulings that he should personally pay costs and that he must institute the judicial commission, among others.

Zuma’s appeal is in defiance of a resolution of the ANC conference that instructed him to set up the inquiry “expeditiously”.

Ramaphosa’s backers are expected to argue that Zuma’s appeal is proof that the two centres of power — with Zuma calling the shots at the Union Buildings and Ramaphosa at Luthuli House — will not work and that Zuma will have to vacate office.

Ramaphosa’s camp holds a slim majority in the newly elected NEC and there is anticipation that it might raise the issue as soon as the first NEC meeting ahead of the party’s January 8 anniversary celebrations in East London, scheduled for January 13.

One of the people involved in the talks is new secretary-general Ace Magashule. Police Minister and NEC member Fikile Mbalula has also made contact with several senior ANC leaders, including those close to Ramaphosa, asking them to help negotiate a deal.

Among those approached is NEC member and Deputy Agriculture Minister Bheki Cele.

The Sunday Times has learnt that secret meetings are planned after Christmas to discuss ways to manage Zuma’s exit.

While Zuma’s supporters want an amicable exit, it is difficult to negotiate any form of amnesty deal under South African law that would protect Zuma from facing trial.

Corruption charges stemming from his relationship with his former financial adviser Schabir Shaik are pending against the president and evidence could surface against him once the judicial commission of inquiry into state capture commences.

South African law has no provision for amnesty prior to trial on criminal charges. There would have to be some admission of wrongdoing on Zuma’s part, which his supporters know would be difficult to extract.

Had Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma been elected ANC president, Zuma would have been cushioned, but now his supporters accept that an early departure is inevitable.

In November 2015 and May 2016, members of the former NEC urged Zuma to step down from office because of the reputational damage he was causing the ANC. Zuma refused to do so and was fiercely backed by his allies in the NEC.

With the president no longer holding any formal position in the party, it is now easier to remove him.

On the campaign trail Ramaphosa indicated to some of his backers that it would be impossible to engage in a recovery programme for the ANC and the country with Zuma in the Union Buildings.

With Zuma allies Magashule and deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte in the top six, along with new ANC deputy president David Mabuza, and a split NEC, it was expected that plans to remove Zuma would be frustrated.

But now Zuma’s key supporters have reached out across the factional divide to discuss the president’s future as they are concerned about him being humiliated, as well as the ANC’s election prospects if he remains in office. It is understood that Magashule and Mabuza are willing to discuss Zuma’s early exit.

An NEC member who campaigned for Ramaphosa said: “I don’t see DD [Mabuza] going with them, because they are already