Deal struck on Zexit?
President’s resignation on cards after ‘fruitful’ talks with Ramaphosa
‘ Other ANC leaders indicated the deal would see Zuma ‘go in a dignified way’
AFTER a dramatic day in which the state of the nation address was postponed and the special ANC national executive committee meeting intended to recall Jacob Zuma was called off at the 11th hour, reports emerged late last night that a deal for the embattled president’s resignation was close.
According to the TimesLIVE news service, Zuma had agreed to resign as soon as a list of preconditions were finalised in a deal struck yesterday afternoon between Zuma and ANC leader Cyril Ramaphosa and confirmed by sources last night.
However, it was not clear what those conditions would be.
The talks were later described as “fruitful, constructive and robust” by ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule.
Magashule would not confirm whether Zuma had agreed to resign, although other ANC leaders indicated that the deal would see Zuma “go in a dignified way”.
He did, however, indicate that the discussion between Ramaphosa and Zuma deferred the pressing need for the NEC to discuss his exit.
The deal led to the postponement of the NEC meeting to February 17 and 18.
The meeting had been due to take place at the Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town and would have heard a recommendation from the ANC’s national working committee that Zuma be removed as head of state.
ANC spokesman Pule Mabe confirmed the postponement of the NEC meeting.
Magashule would not say who would deliver the state of the nation address once a new date is announced.
Zuma refused to resign when the party’s officials requested him to do so at a meeting on Sunday, arguing that he had done nothing wrong.
Insiders said Zuma had told the officials that the NEC had accepted his apology on Nkandla, he had complied when the new leadership asked him to change the Eskom board and he had also set up the commission of inquiry into state capture, as requested by the party.
He said he did not see what was new to warrant his removal.
He was also warned by officials that he could lose his benefits if he faced parliamentary processes to effect his removal.
To this, he replied that he had not joined the struggle for benefits.
Zuma urged the officials to have the NEC take a decision on his removal, which he indicated he would comply with.
However, there were still concerns among some leaders that he would not resign, as former president Thabo Mbeki did in 2008, once recalled by the NEC.
The postponement of the special NEC, however, implied that Zuma was now ready to step aside.
The SA Communist Party reiterated its call for the ANC to recall Zuma if he continued to refuse to resign.
It also called last night on Zuma to deny or confirm emerging information that he was preparing to fire Ramaphosa as deputy president and replace him with Nkosazana
Dlamini-Zuma, who he wanted as acting president should he be removed.
The Presidency swiftly issued a statement, dismissing the SACP allegations as outrageous and baseless.
Should Zuma fail to resign once recalled, the ANC is poised to bring its own motion of no confidence against him in parliament.
For the first time in democratic South Africa, it was announced yesterday afternoon that the state of the nation address had been postponed, just two days before it was scheduled to take place.
It would have been Zuma’s last address at the opening of parliament.
This was despite presiding officers last week insisting that it would go ahead and preparations for the event had started.
The Presidency said it was Zuma himself who wrote to parliament requesting that the Sona be postponed, which they acceded to.
“The president has requested the postponement due to certain developments which make it not conducive to successfully hold the sitting and deliver the Sona,” his spokesman, Bongani Ngqulunga, said.
The first requests for the postponement came from opposition parties.
Following a meeting with political parties, which included the ANC, National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete and National Council of Provinces chairwoman Thandi Modise announced that the address would be shifted to next week, although no fixed date was announced.
The ANC had also motivated to have tomorrow’s event postponed.
The presiding officers said they had met Zuma to inform him that the Sona was being postponed, when he told them that he was in the process of writing to them to request the same postponement.
The DA is claiming credit for the Sona postponement, welcoming Mbete’s decision to accede to the party’s request to do so, which it made last week.
Luthuli House said it respected the decision taken by parliament’s presiding officers.
The EFF had threatened to disrupt proceedings and insist that a motion of no confidence in Zuma be held on the day.
The Congress of the People also welcomed the decision to postpone the event and urged the presiding officers of parliament to urgently complete the rules for the impeachment of the president so that the legislature could carry out its task. – Business Day, TimesLIVE