Ramaphosa allays Zuma exit plan fears
ANC president confident talks will end uncertainty
ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa says he fully understands that South Africans want closure on the discussions being held about state President Jacob Zuma’s exit plan.
Ramaphosa reassured the nation that once the talks with Zuma are finalised, the outcomes will unite all South Africans.
“This is a challenging time for our country. Both President Zuma and myself are aware that our people want and deserve closure,” said Ramaphosa in a statement released late yesterday afternoon.
This follows the decision announced by Speaker Baleka Mbete and her counterpart in the National Council of Provinces Thandi Modise on Tuesday afternoon that the State of the Nation address initially scheduled for today, had been postponed indefinitely.
Immediately afterwards, the ANC also announced that it has shelved a special national executive committee (NEC) meeting which was expected to discuss Zuma’s decision on Sunday not to resign, as South Africans “still love him”.
The discussions follow an ANC national working committee (NWC) decision last week to assign the party’s national officials to meet with Zuma and discuss his exit plan following the election of Ramaphosa as the party president at the conference held last December in Nasrec. The party resolved at its conference in Mangaung in 2012, to avoid two centres of power, where the party’s deployee as head of state was different to the party leader.
When the Sunday meeting did not produce fruitful results, Ramaphosa held a one-on-one meeting with Zuma at Tuynhuis on Tuesday night, a meeting which the party described as “fruitful and constructive”. This led to the cancellation of both the Sona and the NEC meeting.
Trying to shed light on the developments, Ramaphosa issued a statement yesterday afternoon saying he was aware that the uncertainty surrounding the position of the head of state and government was “a cause for concern among many South Africans. This is understandable.
“However, I am certain that the process we have now embarked on will achieve an outcome that not only addresses these concerns, but also unites our people around the tasks that all of us must necessarily undertake to build our country.”
Deputy President of SA, Ramaphosa, said they would be able to communicate further on “President Zuma’s position as president of the republic once we have finalised all pertinent matters”.
Ramaphosa said while the current situation had necessitated the postponement until further notice of the Sona, the work of government and parliament would continue. —