‘We will not give up’
Activists planning a march to the Union Buildings tomorrow to demand the resignation of president Jacob Zuma have vowed not to give up their right to protest after being threatened and intimidated last night.
Experts agree dissent will keep growing and that violence is a real possibility.
A“political monster” who does as he pleases, undermining and belittling his own organisation with no consequences, is proof that the ANC is dying.
These are the views of political analyst Elvis Masoga, who was reacting to yesterday’s media briefing by the ANC, where party secretary-general Gwede Mantashe was giving a report-back on the outcomes of the national working committee (NWC) meeting, which had lasted late into Tuesday night.
The meeting was held amid growing calls for President Jacob Zuma to step down, following his unpopular Cabinet reshuffle, which also saw ANC officials in the top six – notably Gwede Mantashe, Cyril Ramaphosa and Zweli Mkhize – criticise the changes that had seen former finance minister Pravin Gordhan axed.
Speaking to The Citizen yesterday, Masoga said he thought the NWC would have saved the ANC from the clutches of a “political death”.
“It is unfortunate that the forces of darkness have emerged victorious, which led to Zuma surviving again.
“The last option available now is for the entire nation to stand united and work towards saving our nation,” Masoga said. He said the nation also had to thank Mantashe, Ramaphosa and Mkhize for voicing their concerns publicly regarding Zuma’s Cabinet reshuffle. “They tried their level best, but it was just a little too late,” Masoga said. Another political analyst, professor Andre Duvenhage, said it was clear that the NWC composition consisted predominantly of Zuma loyalists.
“During the end of the Thabo Mbeki term, Zuma still enjoyed a lot of support from the NWC, but not in the national executive committee.
“What we are likely to witness from now on, is huge infighting in the ANC, and we can also expect the anti-Zuma groups to be consistently on Zuma’s case, but he [Zuma] will continue with his dirty tricks,” Duvenage said.
He said Zuma’s latest survival was temporary, adding that different sectors of society would continue to protest against the president.
“The possibility of violence during the protests cannot be ruled out, considering the warnings from the ANC Youth League on Tuesday, saying they will fight fire with fire in defence of Zuma,” Duvenhage said.
Meanwhile, the SA Communist Party (SACP) rejected as baseless the allegation that the party had leaked information from its bilateral engagements held last week with the ANC and thereby breached confidentiality commitment.
A statement said the leak clearly came from the ANC, who sought to portray the SACP as agreeing to the reshuffling, “whereas that was untrue”. –
Likely to witness infighting from now on