/ 27 May 2011

Zuma angsts over senior ANC leaders’ casual slurs

Zuma Angsts Over Senior Anc Leaders' Casual Slurs

President Jacob Zuma is worried about the possibility of comments by senior ANC leaders alienating minority voters, after generalised comments about whites by youth league president Julius Malema and remarks by government spokesperson Jimmy Manyi that raised the ire of leaders in Cape Town’s coloured community.

“What we say as leaders, are our articulations not alienating to other people?” Jackson Mthembu said in Pretoria.

He was briefing the media on Zuma’s political report presented at an ANC national executive committee (NEC) meeting which started on Friday.

Mthembu said Zuma called for “very serious introspection” on the loss of minority votes the ANC suffered in the local government election, a trend also evident in the 2009 national polls.

Zuma did not mention the names of leaders he referred to, Mthembu said.

On Monday, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe conceded that comments by ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema could have contributed to the party’s lack of popularity among minorities.

In the run-up to the polls, Malema had described whites as “criminals”.

Government spokesperson Jimmy Manyi also came under fire earlier this year after it emerged he said there was an over-concentration of coloured people in the Western Cape.

For this, Manyi received a rebuke from ANC NEC member and Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel, who called the government spin doctor a racist.

The ANC would also “interrogate” whether it had diverted from the non-racial values espoused by former president Nelson Mandela. This was an accusation levied at the party by the Democratic Alliance during campaigning in the run up to the election.

Zuma called for this statement to be examined to evaluate whether it was a view held by society at large and not just the opposition.

“We must not dig our heads into the sand, we must be very open with ourselves. He (Zuma) has asked for a frank discussion,” Mthembu said.

The party would consider putting together a team to determine the reasons for its poor performance in these communities.

ANC bigwigs will also mull the drop in votes it garnered in the provinces and receive a “scientific” assessment of the election result.

Zuma sat at the head table of the NEC meeting, flanked by the ANC’s top leaders on either side. Malema sat at the back of the hall, next to NEC member Tony Yengeni.

The media were allowed to enter the meeting room for a photo opportunity, before being whisked out for the briefing by Mthembu.

IMF leadership
He told journalists that the vacant position of International Monetary Fund (IMF) head was also on the NEC’s agenda.

“The president [Jacob Zuma] did touch on the position that’s become vacant at the IMF,” said Mthembu.

“As South Africa we are consulting with other developing countries on this particular matter.”

Mthembu did not go into further detail, saying the matter had not yet come to “discussion point”, but it was an agenda item.

Manyi on Thursday refused to divulge details of Cabinet’s position on the IMF job. Manuel is reportedly a “dark horse” in the race for the spot, traditionally filled by a European.

IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned this month after sexual assault allegations were levelled against him.

Manyi eventually confirmed the government was lobbying its trading partners in the emerging world to rally around a single candidate for the vacant IMF position.

Zuma’s upcoming visit to Libya would also be discussed. — Sapa