FRIDAY, 11.00AM:
THE Sowetan reports on Friday morning that Mpumalanga Premier Mathews Phosa is considering quitting politics after being asked by President Nelson Mandela to step down as a candidate for the African National Congress deputy presidency in favour of ANC KwaZulu-Natal leader Jacob Zuma.
Phosa met Mandela on Monday, where he was apparently ordered to pull out of the race.
The ANC Youth League has also recently withdrawn its support of Phosa as deputy president in favour of Zuma. It is believed that the withdrawal comes after meetings with senior members of the National Executive Committee and ANC president-in-waiting Thabo Mbeki, who also apparently supports Zuma as his deputy president.
It is also believed that senior ANC leaders are keen to consolidate the race for the party’s deputy presidency to ensure ANC Women’s League president Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the league’s candidate for deputy president, does not succeed.