Zuma should face ANC inquiry: Sisulu

JOHANNESBURG — The African National Congress (ANC) should initiate disciplinary action over allegations that President Jacob Zuma and members of the Gupta family who are in business with his son have looted state coffers, according to a member of his cabinet who is running to replace him as party leader.

“The ANC should act decisively on anybody in authority who is suspected or alleged to be doing wrong,” Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu said in an interview on Sunday in Polokwane. “The fact that the president is involved” shouldn’t make a difference, she said.

Separate reports by the Public Protector in November, the country’s main church organisation and a team of top academics in May allege members of the Gupta family used their links to Zuma to secure sweetheart contracts and deals from state companies.

While thousands of emails between the Guptas, their staff and business associates that were later leaked to the local media show how the family allegedly benefited from undue influence over the government, Zuma and the Guptas have disputed their authenticity and denied wrongdoing.

Zuma’s leadership and implication in a succession of

PIETERMARITZBURG — A community meeting following the arrest of four Estcourt men for allegedly killing a person and eating human flesh saw hundreds of residents allegedly confess to having eaten human body parts procured from one of the accused.

The four men, Nino Mbatha (32), Sthembiso Sithole (31), Lindokuhle Masondo (32) and Lungisani Magubane (30), appeared in the Estcourt Magistrate’s Court on Monday on charges of murder and conspiracy.

This after one of the four men allegedly walked into the Estcourt police station on Friday, holding human body parts and confessed to being “tired of eating human flesh”.

When he was questioned, he produced part of a human leg and a hand. Further investigation led police to a house in the Rensburgdrift area in Estcourt where they were met with a foul smell, and more human remains were found. scandals has eroded support for the 105-year-old ANC, but the president has clung to office because of the support of most of the party’s top leaders, who rely on him for their posts in the Cabinet and government.

Divisions within the party were laid bare on August 8, when more than two dozen ANC MPs backed an opposition motion of no confidence in Zuma. ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe announced on August 15 that three of the party’s lawmakers who openly backed the unsuccessful bid to oust Zuma would face disciplinary action.

Sisulu criticised the party’s actions, saying it had exercised selective judgment by targeting some of its members who failed to toe the party line, while failing to take action against the president. ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa did not immediately answer calls seeking comment. Sisulu is among several candidates bidding to replace Zuma when he steps down as party leader in December. The front-runners for the post are Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the former chairperson of the African Union Commission and a former wife of the president. Other contenders include parliamentary speaker Baleka Mbete and Mathews Phosa, a former ANC treasurer general. — AFP