ANC speaks in many voices on Zuma’s removal
Pressure is mounting on the ANC from within its structures to remove President Jacob Zuma amid conflicting messages from its top officials.
The Eastern Cape provincial executive committee and the national working committee (NWC) urged the national officials to act on the Zuma issue.
Eastern Cape secretary Lulama Ngcukaitobi said the provincial body had met on Sunday and Monday and received an update on the national executive committee (NEC) decision to “dispense with the matter”.
The provincial body had called on the national leaders to speed up the process.
“In doing so, they must listen to the populace about the continued presence of the state president in the Union Buildings,” he said.
The ANC had to act due to the “toxic political environment”, since opposition parties were poised to bring yet another embarrassing motion of no confidence, Ngcukaitobi said.
The ANC had “to ensure that we maintain the momentum from the new leadership and the new dawn that it has brought for the organisation”.
The national executive had mandated national officials to urge Zuma to resign. Should he not, he could face impeachment or even a no-confidence motion from his own party.
The NWC also discussed Zuma’s exit at a meeting on Monday. It is understood that there was further pressure from the structure for the officials to act on the earlier NEC decision.
According to a statement signed off by ANC secretarygeneral Ace Magashule, the NWC has urged the officials to meet with Zuma.
“The NWC mandated officials to meet with President Zuma with a view to meet to discussing a set of actions that would place the ANC in good stead and enable us to best manage the transition,” Magashule said in a statement on the ANC’s official Facebook page.
This statement was put out late on Monday, but was not distributed to the media through ordinary ANC communication channels. Business Day understands it was penned by Magashule, a Zuma loyalist.
On Sunday, he called those wanting Zuma removed “factionalists” and “populists” and said Ramaphosa’s term “is only five years”.