JZ’S NIGHT OF KNIVES
Zuma to face court today after tense NEC meeting
PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma has to give reasons today in the high court in Pretoria for his midnight cabinet reshuffle, one of the reasons his future at the Union Buildings hangs in the balance.
Zuma would be fresh from a night of the long knives at a tense meeting of the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC), during which a second motion of no confidence against him was tabled.
At the time of publication last night, NEC members were engaged in the marathon meeting, slugging it out over his fate.
The motion against Zuma, who will face MPs on Wednesday for the Presidency’s budget, was tabled by the ANC’s policy guru Joel Netshitenzhe on Saturday.
The move was supported by Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi and his deputy Joe Phaahla, axed tourism minister Derek Hanekom and NEC member Sue van der Merwe, according to sources.
Yesterday’s meeting took place against the backdrop of the most damning newspaper reports yet against Zuma’s controversial friends the Guptas, revealing the business family’s influence on the state, allegedly through Zuma and his son Duduzane.
They also detailed how the Guptas prepared for Zuma to move his family to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
But the Gupta family’s attorney, Gert van der Merwe, has dismissed the reports, which are based on internal emails.
“I invite the newsrooms relying on these documents to disclose them (and the sources from which they were ostensibly obtained) to my client for consideration and comment, if possible.
“Once the documents are studied and verified, my client will be in a position to comment, if justified.
“The family deny any wrongdoing or paying any amounts to ministers or the president, and reserve their rights,” Van der Merwe said.
Hours after the allegations were made public, ANC stalwart Mathews Phosa, a Zuma critic, reiterated his call for the president to step down.
Phosa, delivering the keynote address in the Peter Mokaba region in Limpopo yesterday, criticised what he called “corrupt leaders with broken values who have lost the moral high ground”, saying they had let the entire country down.
“Looking at our current crisis, we are forced to ask difficult questions: How did we get here? Where should we be and how will we get there? We need leaders we can believe in; the status quo is not good enough.
“Let us create a new status quo together. We need government and society in partnership for growth. Let us root out crime and corruption. Let us work together for the benefit of all.”
Phosa characterised corrupt lead- ers as charlatans who had lost the essential good values that unite the ANC and the nation.
“Leaders who are found guilty, or have reason to fear being found guilty of violating the constitution and supreme law of the land, who have lost the trust of their people and party, who have unethically misguided a nation and who have lost the cherished values of the ANC must be held accountable: Please, Mr President, step down.”
The DA, on the other hand, wants Zuma to provide his record of decision and who he consulted when he decided to revamp the cabinet. They believe he acted improperly, and are calling for him to give details about his decisions.
The cabinet reshuffle led to unprecedented shows of dissatisfaction with Zuma’s leadership of the country – with opposition politicians and civil society organisations alike taking to the streets to express their dissatisfaction.
Opposition parties led marches to the Union Buildings against Zuma – and they also protested outside the National Treasury in Pretoria, warning that it was in the throes of being captured.
In addition to arguing his case in court through his lawyers, Zuma will also face MPs for the first time since that decision two months ago.
Zuma will be tabling his department’s budget vote speech in Parliament on Wednesday and will reply to the debate the following day.
He is expected to get a hostile reception from the opposition, who want him to quit in the wake of the scandals that have rocked his tenure as president.
The latest email scandal in the weekend papers, which pointed strongly to the Guptas running key areas of the state, has put Zuma at odds with the opposition, who are promising that they will launch fur- ther legal action against him.
The DA and EFF have complained that they have lodged several cases against Zuma, ranging from the exorbitant cost of renovations to his Nkandla home, to the State of Capture report compiled by former public protector Thuli Madonsela, but that the authorities have not made any progress in their investigations.
The South African Council of Churches (SACC) and a group of academics have also released their own reports on alleged corruption, linking Zuma and the Guptas. The SACC called on the ANC to act against Zuma. This was the same call made by the opposition parties in Parliament.
They will face Zuma for the first time since the calls for him to go widened and more scandals broke.
Zuma’s axing of Pravin Gordhan as the finance minister was one of the major issues that split the ANC, and resulted in Cosatu and the SACP calling for him to go.
Cosatu has gone as far as banning him from speaking at its gatherings.
@luyolomkentane
We need leaders we can believe in… let us create a new status quo together