Dlamini-Zuma tells Cyril: I’ll be out of here
Vanquished rival for presidency wants to quit as MP after brief stint
● ANC MP Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma wants to quit parliament, just five months after being appointed a legislator.
After losing a bruising battle for the presidency of the ANC, the former African Union Commission chairwoman has apparently told President Cyril Ramaphosa she wants to step down as a National Assembly member.
However, she has indicated she would remain a member of the ANC’s top leadership structures, the national executive committee and the national working committee.
According to ANC sources, Dlamini-Zuma told party bosses that she was “tired and had enough of politics”.
The Sunday Times has learnt that Dlamini-Zuma met Ramaphosa on Monday, before the special meeting at which the NEC decided to recall former president Jacob Zuma.
Dlamini-Zuma informed Ramaphosa of her intention to tender her resignation after the state of the nation address. She also told ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule.
It is understood that Ramaphosa asked Dlamini-Zuma to stay on, saying he needed her services in government. Although this was a signal that Ramaphosa intended to appoint her to his cabinet, Dlamini-Zuma apparently said that she was not interested in becoming a minister or a committee chairwoman in parliament.
“She told them [Ramaphosa and Magashule] that while she always abides by the will of the ANC, this is one time she won’t. She just wants to leave,” said one source.
ANC national spokesman Pule Mabe said he was not aware of Dlamini-Zuma’s intention to resign.
An NEC member sympathetic to DlaminiZuma said it was a bad time for her to step down because she could be seen as “sulking” over the result of the ANC conference.
“I don’t think it would be a strategic move for her to leave parliament. It would create an impression that she’s angry about the Nasrec outcome,” he said.
Dlamini-Zuma was replaced as AU commission chairwoman in January last year, the same month that the ANC Women’s League launched her resolute but unsuccessful campaign for the party presidency.
In September, she was sworn in as an MP, taking up a vacancy created by Pule Mabe’s resignation as MP. It was speculated at the time that her move to parliament was a procedural step to pave the way for her appointment as a minister.
At Monday’s NEC meeting, Dlamini-Zuma did not oppose Zuma’s recall, even though he had been central to her campaign to become party president.
She has not played an active role in parliament since becoming an MP and was visibly subdued at the sitting to elect Ramaphosa as president on Thursday.