/ 26 November 2016

ANC denies President Zuma will be grilled for bringing party into disrepute

For the first time since Zuma became president
For the first time since Zuma became president

In response to the Mail & Guardian’s front page story this week, the ANC has released a statement denying that President Jacob Zuma will be questioned for bringing the party into disrepute.

“He is not appearing as though there are charges which have been proffered by anybody, or the commission, against the president,” the party’s spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said on Friday.

READ MORE: ANC at last calls Zuma to account

Zuma is to be quizzed by the body, made up of elders in the party, over the Nkandla saga, State of Capture report and his close friendship with the Gupta family.

The meeting is set to take place on December 2.

He was clarifying reports from the sidelines of a meeting between stalwarts of the party and its national working committee in Pretoria.

Kodwa said Zuma was invited to the December 2 meeting in his capacity as leader of the organisation to review the health and current state of the 104-year-old organisation.

READ MORE: Zuma: Nobody can force me to launch a state capture commission

The committee had been criticised by many, including the ANC’s secretary general Gwede Mantashe, for failing to act against the president when the Constitutional Court found that he failed touphold his obligation to the Constitution.

Power rests with NEC

The commission, which was said to have been given more teeth to take decisions instead of just make recommendations, isalso meant to look into members of the party who bring it into disrepute.

“It’s not about guilty findings,” Mantashe said at the time, but what the impact of an individual member’s actions are on the party’s image.

He told the Mail & Guardian that the commission just wanted to talk to Zuma.

University of Pretoria Professor Tinyiko Maluleke asked what the integrity commission was going to do that was effective on hearing news that Zuma will be meeting with the committee.

Speaking to News24, he said for those seeking to see the end of Zuma’s presidency the answer was with the national executive committee (NEC), which was to hold its last meeting for 2016 on Saturday.

READ MORE: Presidency: Zuma to challenge State of Capture report in court

“At the end of the day it will take a vote from the NEC, which is the most powerful decision-making body outside of the elective conference, for Zuma to go,” he said.

It will take the NEC, not the integrity committee to accomplish anything, said Maluleke. – News24