Cyril takes aim at Abrahams
Zuma’s ‘transition’ to kick off with firing of his toady prosecutor
There will be ‘blood on the floor’ in the NEC’s efforts to ‘deal with the elephant in the room’ this week
NEC member
● ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa will use the coming week to ramp up his bid to remove Jacob Zuma from the Union Buildings and Shaun Abrahams as NPA head.
This comes after he forced Zuma’s hand in instituting the state capture commission this week — and after being made aware of Abrahams’s apparent refusal to pursue 10 cases brought to him by prosecutors working on state capture cases last month.
Several national leaders have revealed that the issue of “leadership transition” — the term used in the ANC to describe Zuma’s removal and Ramaphosa’s installation as president of the country — will be discussed at a meeting of the party’s national executive committee starting on Thursday.
The NEC has the power to recall a deployee, as happened with Thabo Mbeki in 2008.
Sources in both Zuma and Ramaphosa’s inner circles also revealed that the announcement by the Presidency on Tuesday evening that Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo had been appointed to head up the commission of inquiry came after Ramaphosa instructed Zuma to make this call, during a meeting last Sunday.
The Sunday Times has also learnt that Ramaphosa intends to remove Abrahams from his post. This is as a result of the ANC’s new president receiving legal opinion advising him that he could do so immediately.
Last month the High Court in Pretoria delegated the power to appoint the head of the National Prosecuting Authority to Ramaphosa after declaring that Zuma was conflicted because of his pending corruption charges. Judge Dunstan Mlambo invalidated Abrahams’s appointment.
Zuma and the NPA have appealed the judgment. Ramaphosa has, however, been canvassing names for the position.
The Sunday Times understands that Ramaphosa was made aware that a group of prosecutors in the NPA met with Abrahams last month to brief him on the status of almost a dozen high-profile state capture cases that they were ready to prosecute.
Abrahams was apparently shocked and refused to look at the case files, saying he needed to consult with higher authorities.
“The prosecutors caught him off-guard and he didn’t know how to handle the matter. He still hasn’t responded to them,” said a senior ANC leader who has been briefed on the matter.
Ramaphosa now wants these prosecutions to be undertaken immediately.
In his January 8 address yesterday, he continued his hard line on state capture, saying the investigation and prosecution of those responsible would be given priority.
He also pledged to put in place mechanisms to improve transparency in the appointment of individuals to senior government positions, state-owned entities and law enforcement agencies. He said this was to “prevent undue influence and ensure adequate vetting of candidates”.
Details have meanwhile emerged about Zuma’s unexpected announcement on the state capture commission. Ramaphosa met with Zuma in Durban last Sunday and informed him that his appeal against the High Court judgment on the judicial commission was in breach of an ANC national conference decision.
The court had assigned Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng the power to select the judge to head the inquiry.
Ramaphosa advised Zuma to rescind the appeal.
Mogoeng’s office confirmed this week that Zuma wrote to the chief justice the next day, Monday, asking for the name of a judge to head the commission. This the chief justice supplied on Tuesday.
On the same day and on the eve of an NEC meeting, Zuma announced the establishment of the inquiry but said he was still taking advice on the appeal. “I have only
appealed the orders to the extent that they set a particular precedent for the Office of the President of the Republic and are indeed deserving of legal certainty,” Zuma said.
Zuma’s spokesman, Bongani Ngqulunga, did not respond to questions. Abrahams could not be reached for comment.
NPA spokesman Luvuyo Mfaku said yesterday that a team of prosecutors, Asset Forfeiture Unit lawyers and investigators were working on the state capture allegations. Throughout last year Abrahams had received reports on the status of the investigations, he said. “He has, in addition, at various stages of the year met with members of the NPA team, including in December, to be briefed on the progress of the matters.”
He said it was not true that Abrahams refused to look at the documents.
“[He] has never needed to consult with anyone before or after the briefings.”
The Sunday Times has learnt that Ramaphosa stopped the discussion about Zuma’s recall at last Wednesday’s NEC meeting. In his political overview to the meeting, Ramaphosa suggested “there will be sufficient time to discuss the transition in leadership”, an NEC member said.
Zuma’s exit is expected to be raised at this week’s NEC meeting, which will precede a lekgotla next weekend on the party’s plan of action for the year and the 2019 elections.
Several NEC members said it was necessary for Ramaphosa to take the lead at the lekgotla and deliver the state of the nation address. But the NEC would discuss the process leading towards Zuma’s exit, they said.
Even some of Zuma’s most trusted supporters are now turning on him, saying his recall is necessary and should be “managed”.
An NEC member close to Zuma said if the ANC did not make the decision to remove Zuma, the party would be dictated to by the courts or the president could be impeached in parliament. “The reason some of us said the president must stay was because he was still president of the ANC. Now the ANC is capable of resolving the problem before it,” the NEC member said. “We can’t be ruled by the courts, like what happened with Hlaudi [Motsoeneng of the SABC]. It is us that must make these decisions to remove people.”
The NEC is said to be divided between those wanting Zuma to be removed immediately, those who believe he should be left to deliver the state of the nation address next month and then removed, and those who believe he should see out his term in office.
An NEC member said there would be “blood on the floor” in their efforts to “deal with the elephant in the room”.
Another said that if yet another motion of no confidence or an impeachment process was launched in parliament, the ANC would not be able to control its MPs and more of them were now likely to side with the opposition.
● Former ANC president Jacob Zuma was humiliated at the party’s January 8 rally in East London yesterday when a large section of supporters booed him and gestured that he should leave.
Zuma arrived at the Buffalo City Stadium alongside his counterpart from Kenya, President Uhuru Kenyatta, when the programme was already under way, and faced repeated booing every time footage of him entering was shown on the big screen.
It was the first time Zuma had been booed at a national ANC event, although he suffered a similar humiliation at the memorial service for former president Nelson Mandela at the FNB stadium in 2013 — in front of several heads of state, including then US president Barack Obama.
The latest incident comes as pressure is mounting on the ANC national executive committee to remove Zuma. It will give his detractors additional ammunition to call for his head because it shows he has become unpopular with party supporters and voters.
The crowd on the pitch in front of the stage jeered and booed Zuma and made gestures indicating change.
When Zuma was acknowledged on stage, the crowd booed again, but clapped furiously when Kenyatta was acknowledged.
However, a small group of mostly ANC Women’s League members sitting in stands to the left of the stage clapped when Zuma entered the stadium.
When newly elected ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa took to the podium to deliver his address, he acknowledged Zuma but the crowd would have none of it.
Ramaphosa quickly rebuked the crowd, saying the rally should be a day of celebration and rejoicing. “It is not a day of what you are doing,” he said.
Zuma’s security contingent was larger than Ramaphosa’s and Kenyatta’s.
The ANC had expected 120 000 of the party faithful to fill the stadium and two overflow venues next to it. All three venues were packed almost to capacity before 9am.
At the start of his speech, Ramaphosa seemed to distance his leadership from that of Zuma by indicating that the fact the event started on time was an indication of things that would change. Zuma is notorious for his tardiness and for arriving late, after the start of events.
Ramaphosa used his speech to send out a message that his ANC would be different from Zuma’s.
He said the ANC would revive Nelson Mandela’s spirit of nonracialism.
Under Zuma, the ANC has been accused of turning into an Africanist organisation that prioritises black Africans over other races.
“We must follow Madiba’s example and become activists of nonracialism,” said Ramaphosa.
His address also focused on the unity of the ANC and the state of the economy.
“Structures of the movement have been weakened and the confidence of the people in the ANC has been eroded. This, and the development of social distance between elected leaders and the electorate, has damaged the bond between the ANC and the masses of the people,” Ramaphosa said.
He pledged to clamp down on factions and divisions during his term. “We will desist from doing anything that divides the ANC. We will call them to Luthuli House and say, Why are you dividing the ANC?”
The crowd applauded Ramaphosa when he said he would weed out patronage and gate-keeping in the party. He further pleased the crowd when he lambasted people who stole government funds through flawed government procurement processes.