Pressure to oust JZ grows
But he will deliver State of the Nation address, says Ace ‘Water crisis threatens jobs’
DIVISIONS in the ANC top six appear to be widening as supporters of President Jacob Zuma in the leadership are sticking to their guns that he will deliver the State of the Nation address (Sona) in Parliament on Thursday.
Addressing media in Venda yesterday, ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule confirmed that the top six were in negotiations with Zuma over his future but said that Zuma “is going to deliver the Sona” in Parliament.
His confirmation came amid expectations that the ANC was due to announce Zuma’s recall today but that looks unlikely as the party top leadership and members of its national executive committee (NEC) continued their pilgrimage to various royal houses in Limpopo.
Yesterday, these party leaders visited the Vhavenda King Toni Mphephu Ramabulana and the Shangaan and Tsonga chiefs. They were set to visit Queen Modjadji of the Balobedu Royal House and Bapedi King Sekhukhune today.
There is also a push in Parliament with ANC MPS likely to back the EFF motion to remove Zuma in two weeks.
However, some ANC MPS believe Zuma will be removed before February 22, the date for the debate of the motion to remove him.
A senior party MP said yesterday ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa and the rest of the top six would not allow Zuma to stay in office until February 22. “I don’t think the leadership will allow him to get to that point because it’s not only the (parliamentary) caucus that wants him to go. The NEC also wants him to go. He will have to be pushed,” said the ANC MP.
He said if Zuma did not want to leave by today or before the Sona, the party will call for a special NEC meeting to remove him.
Another senior party MP said if Zuma fails to go now, most of the party members in the caucus would vote against him in the motion of no confidence.
“The last time it was the former secretary-general (Gwede Mantashe) who came and addressed the caucus and things changed. Had he not addressed caucus more people would have voted against him. This time around you will get more MPS who will support the motion,” said the MP.
“At caucus level no longer will he (Zuma) enjoy support any more. It’s over,” he said.
Another ANC MP said the caucus would convene its first meeting of the year as most of the MPS are returning from recess today.
Meanwhile, all those people marching to Luthuli House to protest against any decision to recall Zuma do so at their own risk. This was the warning issued by the Joburg metro police yesterday after a group of organisations, from mainly KZN, including taxi bosses and businesspeople, vowed to descend on Luthuli House tomorrow to urge Ramaphosa to desist from announcing the recall.
Addressing journalists on Friday, Bafana Nzuza said they made a formal application to the city to march to Luthuli House.
But Joburg metro police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar said the march would not be protected.
The metro reaction came as some ANC members had, through social media, appealed to ANC members, voters and supporters to join them at Luthuli House to defend the ANC headquarters against counter-revolutionaries “marching to our office to undermine the ANC leadership”.
The organisers of #Defendanc Mkhululi White and Lele Sekete have also vowed to call a press briefing today in which they would commit to not “allow factionalists, opportunists” to destroy and divide us”. THE threat of mass job losses and health and hygiene concerns in Cape Town owing to the water crisis is in sharp focus as Day Zero nears.
Cosatu has raised the alarm about the impact on job security.
The city is facing its worst drought in over a century, with plans to shut down the water supply in some areas come April.
Cosatu Western Cape secretary Tony Ehrenreich said the union federation was also concerned about people not being able to use toilets owing to the water supply problem , which would pose a health threat.
Cosatu said it would meet with the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry to discuss its concerns.
It said that businesses needed to supply their workers with water to take the load off the watering points and avoid the need for employees to miss work in order to to collect water.
Ehrenreich said businesses should think of having small water purification plants, instead of having people standing in queues and missing work to collect their daily supply of 25 litres at other water collection points. He said poor people were suffering the most.
Ehrenreich added that the punitive tariff for Level 6b had been calculated based on a four-person household. In most townships there were far more people living on a property, he said.
A recent survey by the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry showed that 55% of businesses said they would harvest rain water, while 33% would use boreholes and well points. Some businesses indicated that they would be planning their own reverse osmosis desalination plants.
The Chamber said businesses planned to use chemical toilets while some also said they planned to work in shifts to allow staff time to collect water at watering points.
“Business clearly has more faith in rainwater tanks, boreholes and new technology than in conventional water supplies,” said Janine Myburgh, the Chamber president.
Another Chamber survey shows that when Day Zero arrives, 69% of businesses will continue as normal, while 11% will send their people home and 6.7% will shut down.
Mark van der Heever, spokesperson for the Western Cape health department, said there was no evidence that the drought had led to an increase in diseases or drought-related illnesses “but ongoing monitoring is needed”.