Removing President Jacob Zuma as ANC leader is not on the agenda of discussions about last week’s elections, secretary general Gwede Mantashe said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will never go to any political party and put a condition to say \u2018remove your leader\u2019. If it is done to us, it is an issue we must deal with in the negotiations,\u201d Mantashe told reporters in Pretoria.<\/p>\n
Several parties, including the EFF, had reportedly demanded that the ANC sack Zuma as a condition for them to enter into coalitions with the ANC after last week\u2019s local government elections.<\/p>\n
There was no item on the agenda of the ANC national executive committee\u2019s 4-day meeting entitled \u201cpresident\u201d, Mantashe said.<\/p>\n
Instead, party members would discuss coalitions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 27 municipalities, including four metros, there is no outright winner. Why do we look into coalitions? Is it a thing of power? Is it about keeping the DA out?<\/p>\n
\u201cIs it about being part of a coalition government? What is the basis for a coalition? We are not discussing the EFF per se, we are discussing coalitions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Negotiations for coalitions would differ based on the circumstances of each municipality.<\/p>\n
The party would attend to those who did not vote for the ANC and tell them they had heard their message.<\/p>\n
He rejected claims that the ANC had been arrogant heading into the election, causing its support to fall to below 60% nationally.<\/p>\n
\u201cArrogance is a question of an observation. Sometimes when I assert myself, you may feel I\u2019m arrogant. I don\u2019t want to get into those descriptions. There are quite a number of messages that have come through this election. We are interpreting them here and we are going to go back to the people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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