Why the ANC wants Zuma to stay
ANC Secretary General, Gwede Mantashe says that removing president Jacob Zuma from office will harm the party, as is reflected by history.
Mantashe was speaking to the media following a meeting with members of the Amathole Cadres Forum at the University of Fort Hare, in Alice, Eastern Cape, on Wednesday.
The SABC reported that Mantashe has warned party members that they should not bow down to pressure from opposition parties.
The Daily Dispatch noted that the senior ANC leader warned against past events.
“After the removal of Thabo Mbeki we had the formation of COPE which won 37 seats in parliament.
“When we fired a youth league president‚ he formed his own party and took a lot of young people in the youth league with him.”
“All we are saying is that we should be more careful now and consider all the options and we are basically weighing risks that go with various options,” Mantashe said.
The party is set to launch its manifesto at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.
Meanwhile, members of the African National Congress’s National Executive Committee (NEC) have called on structures within the party not to speak out on the Constitutional Court ruling against president Zuma, saying doing so was damaging the reputation of the party.
This follows a statement from the ANC’s Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) in Gauteng which said that, while it accepted Zuma’s apology over Nkandla, it did not believe it was enough to restore confidence in the ruling party.
Speaking at the press briefing on Wednesday, NEC member Nomvula Mokonyane said the ANC was dealing with the issue, but called on their members and the general public to give them time to follow internal processes.
“[On] the issue of the Constitutional Court judgment, the ANC has never said, let’s just move on. The ANC says there has to be compliance with the decision of the court and that rests with government.
“But within the African National Congress, we have also identified things that we have to deal with as the organisation internally, lessons we have learnt out of it,” she said.
“We urge South Africans, we urge everybody, including yourselves [the media], to respect and appreciate the internal processes that the ANC is dealing with.”
Mokonyane said the NEC would convene next month to discuss the matter, and hopefully bring it to conclusion.
“The ANC operates on the basis of democratic centralism, correction and self-correction of the movement. Self-correction is most important,” she said.
“We are also urging our own members that the energy of people convening meetings and doing things, it must be about maximising unity of the African National Congress, focusing on the agenda of the ANC, rather than contestation of who said what against whatever.”
National ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa echoed Mokonyane’s sentiments and called on members not to bring the ANC into disrepute.
He warned that it was not in the interest of the party “to see and hear members speaking out about the organisation”.
“It is hurting the organisation and it damages the image of the organisation,” he said.
“Whether it is veterans, whether it is PECs, who yesterday came out in numbers – it does not strengthen the ANC.
With News24
More on the ANC
Zuma must continue to lead the ANC: Gauteng branch
Loading ...
