‘Too little‚ too late‚’ DA tells ANC chief whip

DA parliament chief whip John Steenhuisen said it was too late for his ANC counterpart‚ Jackson Mthembu‚ to realise that President Jacob Zuma was not good for South Africa.

“We are delighted that Mr Mthembu has belatedly come round to our thinking‚ that President Zuma can no longer lead South Africa‚” Steenhuisen said yesterday.

“It’s rather a pity that it has taken him – and others – so long to come around to this conclusion‚ because we could have [already] achieved this‚ if those who have now found their voices had supported the previous opportunities we gave them to rid [South Africa] of Mr Zuma.

“The truth is that it does not matter who wins the ANC elective congress [next month] – the ANC is not capable of self-correction,” he said.

“The future for South Africa and the hope of our people lies in a post-ANC South Africa.”

Steenhuisen was reacting to a call by ANC chief whip Mthembu on Monday for Zuma to step down after the ANC elective conference next month.

Mthembu had said that whoever the party chooses next month‚ the incoming leadership should tell Zuma to go‚ to allow the ANC to clean up its act. “You can’t keep him there‚” he said. The ANC could learn from what was happening in Zimbabwe‚ where the Zanu-PF party had pushed out President Robert Mugabe, Mthembu said.

“In Zimbabwe, they call it a bloodless correction. We need to make the corrections immediately after the conference,” the ANC chief whip said.

“How do you effect those corrections in government‚ when the same person who might have contributed to a better degree still sits?” he asked.

Political analyst Dumisani Hlophe said Mthembu’s call represented a faction pushing for Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa to be the next ANC leader.

Hlophe said the context within which Mthembu made this call was different to what had happened when he protected Zuma against the motion of no confidence in parliament.

“[That motion] was initiated by the opposition. That matters,” he said.

“If [the ANC] had gone ahead and removed Zuma based on the initiative of the opposition‚ it would have meant that the ANC, in its totality, has abdicated its responsibility to provide leadership.

“This time around‚ it is a leadership contestation,” Hlophe said.