ROAD TO 2024 ELECTIONS
As NEC meets to plan for polls, Zuma’s ANC membership will be a hot topic
The ANC National Executive Committee meets this weekend to plan the party’s future and discuss its manifesto ahead of the provincial and national elections. Questions over Jacob Zuma’s possible expulsion are likely to come up too.
The ANC is expected to discuss its former president Jacob Zuma’s departure from the ANC at the weekend’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, as he has not been officially expelled from the organisation.
Speaking to the the media on Friday ahead of the NEC meeting ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula explained that Zuma was removed as an ex-officio member of the highest decision-making body after he was sentenced for ignoring a court order to testify at the state capture inquiry.
“President Zuma has not been attending meetings of the NEC and is not an ex-officio member as per the constitution of the ANC. Him and other presidents attend meetings as per invitation of the NEC, to honour their contribution. Since he was incarcerated the NEC then stopped inviting him to the NEC.
“There has been no change in relation to that and we were talking about reinstatement. Based on the outcome of the case and that he had parole, before that could be concluded by us, then the MK party happened. So from the posture president Zuma had taken politically and his attitude towards the ANC, that is a subject that I will reflect on today and pronounce on,” he reiterated on the sidelines of the meeting at the Birchwood Hotel and OR Tambo Conference Centre.
Daily Maverick understands that the party’s National Working Committee this week discussed the entry of new political parties on to the scene which could pose a threat to the ANC in the upcoming elections.
This brought to the fore Zuma’s uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) party and how it will affect the political landscape, especially in KwaZulu-Natal.
The matter of Zuma’s possible expulsion was also put on the table, although there was no outright decision on which direction the party should take.
Previously, Mbalula said the organisation’s constitution does not allow members to campaign for other parties, and by doing so the former president had already “expelled himself” from the governing party.
Read more in Daily Maverick: Zuma will have to be kicked out of the ANC, but the disciplinary process will matter too
Rule 25 of the ANC’s constitution categorises Zuma’s decision to join another political party as misconduct, which could lead to the ANC instituting disciplinary proceedings.
However, the party’s decision to not officially boot out its former president may leave the door open for his return. Zuma has said that while he will campaign for the MK party, he remains a member of the ANC.
The ANC’s national chairperson, Gwede Mantashe, recently told Radio 702 that the party would deal with the Zuma issue after the elections, as doing so now would distract the party.
The former president has been denounced by senior party members including Mbalula; the head of the party’s presidency, Sibongile Besani; and the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal, which once held him in high regard.
Read more in Daily Maverick: KZN ANC says Zuma has ‘freed’ the party and warns members with MK links
The province had intended to make him the face of its election campaign and had fiercely backed him.
The ANC says it is taking legal action against the MK party for using the name of its apartheid-era armed wing, and the families of deceased military veterans recently barred the party from visiting their graves.
The party’s NEC is on tenterhooks ahead of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling – at 2pm on Friday – on whether it will grant the SA provisional measures against Israel to stop its alleged genocide in Gaza.
Mbalula believes any outcome will be a win for the ANC.
“The most important thing that will happen today is the ICJ which will happen today at 2pm, so we will also as the NEC watch that judgment and immediately we will then make our public statement which will be made by the president of the African National Congress.
“To us, whether the outcome is positive or negative, I think we have made our point as a country we stand for justice and humanity stands with us. We stand for self-determination and we are against genocide and this has been taken up to the highest court in the world. Many countries have been in agreement with South Africa. If the courts agree with us, that will be a plus and will be celebrated especially by the people of Palestine,” he said.
The NEC sits from Friday, 26 January, to Sunday, 28 January. The meeting will be followed by a national lekgotla on 28-29 January, where the party will discuss its plan of action for the year ahead.
The party’s manifesto will be launched in Durban on 24 February. DM
He’s shown himself to be a double agent. And he must be let go. A literal case of him wanting to have his cake and eat it. Because he knows that without the ANC in his corner, the proverbial Emperor is naked.
I agree
Is zuma still controlling the media time he was ignored totally.
Gwede must be a busy man, fixing Eskom and working on excuses for the electorate and disciplining Mbalula and convincing Ramaphosa to stay on as president. It is probably why the DME is in shams as the WMC will be blamed if mines close down!
The simple truth is that the ANC should have already acted against Zuma and voted him out of his presidency way back when, but they did not and they probably will not since the best role for Zuma to play is that of an innocent martyr.
Mantashe makes Ramaphosa seemingly healthy and slim!
ANC Constitution or not, surely Zuma has to go.
And so the circus continues. Good that SA has no other problems!
It’s such a clear-cut betrayal, the appropriate reaction is a no-brainer. Somehow the ANC still manages to be frozen on the spot, as we all look on in anticipation. Perhaps in this case, the lack of a decision represents progress, relative to their pattern of almost always making the wrong decision? After all, even a frozen clock is right twice a day.
The lack of a decision is, sometimes, worse than a wrong decision.
Attending an NEC meeting … a Kafskaesque descent into despair and hopelessness …
A party at war with itself. Riven by factional in-fighting, a president who refuses to give press interviews and remains tight lipped about illegally stashed foreign currency at his home are but a few of the unsavoury aspects of the ANC’s corrupt rule. Others include, a deputy president who’s extravagant life-style is maintained by a criminal suspect who receives tenders in return for favours and party donations, a police commissioner with known corrupt SAPS property dealings, and a secretary general who openly admits that the party tells lies in parliament to protect its own corrupt leaders. The ANC’s national lekgotla this week0-end is going to require some serious soul searching regarding the high levels of dishonesty in its ranks.
I’m going to read this article now-now but kudos for finding the most toothless picture of Zuma possible!
Zuma who???
What if this whole MK/Zuma thing has been carefully choreographed as a strategic move by the ANC, to create a coalition partner to ensure that, even if they fall below 50%, which is more than likely, particularly in KZN, they still hold onto power. What a brilliant move that would be, and would fool all of us.
I can’t believe the anc they have no courage. They are being held hostage by a man who has deliberatley fragmented their membership. Or is it a ruse to ensure anc victory and a full pardon in exchange for seats. Can’t trust these guys with anything!
Once again the ANC is proving to be all talk and no action. The only time there is any action in the ranks of the ANC is when they are adding to the onerous BEE policies that are crippling the country.
Comment prediction: after this nowhere NEC meeting, the ANC will declare that Zuma was “not on the agenda. We were discussing elections and how to serve the people best. We discussed ANC. Zuma is not ANC, therefore there was nothing to discuss.” Yawn.
Presumably, if Zuma isn’t to be sanctioned, any other ANC member can also support, work for and vote for MK, without fear of censure.
Why is this subject even being considered worthy of discussion? The ANC should be focused on rescuing itself from ignominy (if this is even possible), not wasting valuable time & effort discussing a has-been who, it is glaringly obvious, lied to & stole from the poor to feather his luxurious nest.
Why don’t they summon him to come and explain himself and see whether he’ll come?