ANC stalwarts have called on the ANC to recall president Jacob Zuma, saying that the party is facing an unprecedented crisis, where its leader is defying party officials and disregarding his comrades, effectively delinking himself from the party.<\/p>\n
The stalwarts said that Zuma was defying his own organisation, and that it set a very dangerous precedent.<\/p>\n
Speaking at a press briefing on Tuesday (4 April), ANC stalwart\u00a0Cheryl Carolus said that for a president to act in this way\u00a0– to sit on the side and fire rafts of people – has never happened in a democracy, only in a dictatorship.<\/p>\n
“Never in the history of the ANC has one person, a president, defied his comrades in this way,” Carolus said.<\/p>\n
The group could not condone the firing of former finance minister Pravin Gordhan and his deputy, saying that Zuma should have known what message it would have sent. Carolus said that the minister of finance has a certain role, and Zuma completely disrespected that.<\/p>\n
101 ANC stalwarts, including the late Ahmed Kathrada, approached Zuma and the ANC late last year over concerns about the president’s behaviour.<\/p>\n
Many within the party, including finance minister Malusi Gigaba, disregarded what the veterans had to say about contemporary politics, saying that they had had their time.<\/p>\n
However, more senior members in the party said that provision would be made for the stalwarts to give their views, coupling the veterans in with the party’s policy conference in June 2017, which would be extended to accommodate them.<\/p>\n
In light of recent events \u00a0– the cabinet reshuffle and the downgrade to junk status – the stalwarts said they had to speak out.<\/p>\n
They said they would keep pressuring the ANC to hold a separate conference to find stable ground ahead of the policy conference. However they said that they would look to alternatives to engage should this request not be met.<\/p>\n
The stalwarts said that they accept their role outside the party as facilitative, but also noted that they are there to guide the ANC to achieve the goals the party has always stood for, starting from the central, principled point that the party must “do the right thing”.<\/p>\n
“The choice of the ANC is to listen to the people and do what is right. If the ANC doesn’t, the people will,” the group said.<\/p>\n
It has set up a commission of elders to meet with the ANC’s caucus, seeking understanding of how it reached this point.<\/p>\n
The stalwarts join Cosatu, the SACP, and the ANC’s own integrity commission in the call for the president to resign.<\/p>\n