The African National Congress’ national general council (NGC) meeting ended in Pretoria on Sunday with the party reaffirming its support for axed deputy president Jacob Zuma.
ANC secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe told journalists the party was working on the principle of innocent until proven guilty.
Zuma will continue serving as the party’s second in command. Asked whether it was appropriate for the party to continue with Zuma as its deputy president, Motlanthe said: ”It is appropriate because the determination by Judge Hilary Squires is a determination that was made without him [Zuma] being in court.
”But now that has changed and he will be able to answer for himself.”
President Thabo Mbeki fired Zuma last month after he was implicated in the fraud and corruption trial of his financial advisor Schabir Shaik. Zuma has been provisionally charged on two counts of corruption.
On Friday the NGC decided not to accept Zuma’s withdrawal from party structures, pending the outcome of his trial.
‘Unblocking the bottlenecks’
Motlanthe also said the party would take ”nothing for granted” when it came to service delivery in municipalities.
”We aim to unblock all bottlenecks with regards to service delivery in those municipalities that are slow with implementation,” he said.
”In the interim period we will correct and reposition the ANC at local level so that the confidence of the electorate in the ANC is restored.”
Party spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama said all delegates had been reassured that the ANC was ”stronger and much more focused”.
”They leave the NGC with a much deeper sense of unity and focus,” Ngonyama said. – Sapa