While the ANC needs a special congress to recall president Jacob Zuma, those calling on him to step down are appealing to his conscience,\u00a0ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there are people calling on the president to step down, they are talking to him. If there are people saying we must recall him, that is different, we have processes,\u201d Mantashe said.<\/p>\n
He was responding to increasing calls for Zuma to step down following the Nkandla saga, the ANC\u2019s loss of support in the August 3 local government elections, the controversy over \u201cstate capture\u201d, and the aborted attempt to prosecute Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan on fraud charges.<\/p>\n
Cosatu affiliate Nehawu said Zuma had to make the \u201chonourable and courageous decision\u201d in the ANC\u2019s interest.<\/p>\n
The Nelson Mandela Foundation called on the ANC to put South Africa in safe, capable hands. Zuma had failed to protect the Constitution, it said.<\/p>\n
Mantashe said the ANC could only recall Zuma at a special congress. According to the party\u2019s constitution, at least five provinces or the national executive committee had to ask for such a congress. No province had done so as yet.<\/p>\n
Mantashe criticised the party\u2019s integrity commission for complaining to the media about the NEC\u2019s failure to act against Zuma. He said the commission had itself failed to act against Zuma.<\/p>\n
The commission is comprised of party veterans and chaired by one of three surviving\u00a0Rivonia trialists, Andrew Mlangeni.\u00a0He has repeatedly spoken out against Zuma.<\/p>\n
The integrity commission had the power to independently act against ANC members who brought the party into disrepute, Mantashe said. It had however failed to call Zuma to account, even after the Constitutional Court\u2019s ruling on March 31 that he violated the Constitution in his handling of the security upgrades to his Nkandla homestead.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe president never refused to appear before the integrity commission, because they never called him.\u201d<\/p>\n