David Mahlobo, Ace Magashule and Jacob Zuma during the announcement of new ANC leadership at the 54th African National Congress (ANC) national conference. (Photo by Gallo Images / Sowetan / Veli Nhlapo)
Supporters of former president Jacob Zuma and ANC secretary general Ace Magashule in the party’s key eThekwini region have launched a national programme to convince other party structures to back the two leaders ahead of their corruption trials.
The group, led by Mzomuhle Dube, a branch leader from Durban, says the two are being “persecuted” because of their political beliefs in a bid to “collapse” the ANC and create the space for South Africa to be ruled by a coalition of opposition parties.
They want the party to back both men when they appear in court again, and believe that Magashule should not be forced to step aside after being charged with corruption.
Magashule, the former Free State ANC chairperson and premier, is set to appear in court in Mangaung next week in connection with the failed R220-million project to replace asbestos roofs in the province.
Zuma is also set to appear in court later this month on corruption charges stemming from the arms deal in the 1990s.
Dube said the branches would meet the KwaZulu-Natal provincial leadership to discuss the programme to support Zuma and Magashule. They would also meet other branches, regions and zones around the country and would “engage” the ANC national executive committee (NEC) to support the two.
The group has previously held marches in support of Magashule and Zuma and, at a media briefing in Durban on Wednesday, pledged to continue to do so.
The decision by the eThekwini branches flies in the face of the NEC’s decision that ANC members should not turn out in party colours to support corruption-accused leaders. It also contradicts the recent position of ANC deputy secretary general, Jessie Duarte, that ANC members should abide by the NEC ruling.
However, Dube said it was important that the branches “come out clearly” about its concerns over what they believed was a plan to “discredit anyone who calls for economic transformation”.
The charges against Zuma and Magashule were, he said, aimed at “collapsing” the ANC and turning it into a rural party come the next elections.
Dube said the ANC’s “step-aside” ruling should not be imposed on Magashule, but that it should be left to him and other ANC leaders charged with corruption to do so “voluntarily”.
The party’s integrity commission should, he said, not allow itself to be used in internal party factional battles and avoid “being seen as a participant”.
Dube said the ANC’s eThekwini branches would “act silently” should there be any pushback against their support programme within the party’s structures.
Shortly before the grouping made its call, the ANC leadership in the province announced that it had met with Zuma to discuss his decision to defy a ruling by the Constitutional Court that he should appear before the Zondo commission into state capture.
Provincial secretary Mdumiseni Ntuli said they had met with Zuma to understand why he had decided not to go back to the commission.
Stand by your man: Branch leader Mzomuhle Dube contends that Jacob Zuma and Ace Magashule are being persecuted because of their political beliefs
Ntuli said Zuma had raised concerns about Zondo’s ability to be impartial at the meeting.
He said it was important that the ANC take the step of engaging Zuma; to do otherwise would be to create the impression that the party was endorsing his decision to defy the highest court in the land.
Although Magashule’s supporters in the Free State have also started mobilising ahead of his court appearance, his critics have come out in opposition to them.
Kgomotso Tsitsi, a spokesperson for the anti-Magashule ANC Free State branches, who staged protests during the secretary general’s last court appearance, said Magashule’s supporters were attempting to undermine the criminal justice system.
“We regard this as a deliberate attempt to brazenly undermine the president’s call [for action against corruption] and the country’s laws,” Tsitsi said.
“We urge all ANC members and community members not to participate in any gathering that not only contravenes lockdown regulations, but has a huge potential to become a Covid-19 superspreader.”
In the Western Cape, the overwhelming sentiment appeared to be that Zuma should respect the commission and the Constitutional Court — and even that Zondo had indulged his stalling for too long.
“The man must go to the commission, or else we might as well tear up the constitution. If America can act against [Donald] Trump after he has left office, why is it any different here,” said a senior party member in the Cape, who did not wish to be identified, stressing that the province had backed Ramaphosa at Nasrec.
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