KwaZulu-Natal premier S’bu Ndebele has pledged to lead a delegation of top African National Congress (ANC) leaders to support axed Deputy President Jacob Zuma when he appears in court on October 11, the Sunday Times reports.
Ndebele, a close ally of President Thabo Mbeki, has recently been under pressure from his mainly Zuma-supporting colleagues in the province, said the newspaper.
He told the Sunday Times the move by the ANC was aimed at defusing the tensions over Mbeki’s sacking of Zuma.
”I will be there, not just myself but the entire provincial leadership will do so,” the paper quoted Ndebele.
”Several national leaders from the National Executive Committee are also expected to come.”
Shortly after Zuma was fired, crowds heckled Ndebele and pelted him with bottles at a Youth Day rally in KwaMashu, outside Durban, when he attempted to address them about Zuma’s ”release”.
Ndebele said the show of solidarity at court for Zuma would be ”well marshalled, well disciplined” with leadership taking control of the situation on the streets.
”There have been indications that Ndebele, who is provincial chairman, was losing control over ANC structures,” the report read.
Mbeki fired Zuma as South Africa’s deputy president in July after he was found by the Durban High Court to have had a generally corrupt relationship with his former financial adviser Schabir Shaik.
Zuma was then charged on two counts of corruption. – Sapa