The African National Congress has denied reported differences between President Thabo Mbeki and his party deputy, Jacob Zuma, over ways to heal a rift within the party.
The party’s national working committee (NWC) said on Monday night this emerged from its weekly meeting held in Johannesburg earlier in the day.
”The NWC received and discussed the joint report of the ANC president and deputy president as mandated by the ANC national executive committee on September 9,” the committee said in a statement.
”Media reports to the effect that there were differences between the president and deputy president on the substance of the report are false and without basis.”
Recent reports suggested Mbeki and Zuma had been unable to come to an agreement on proposals to deal with tension in party.
ANC secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe was reportedly tasked to facilitate a final report for the next weekend’s national executive committee meeting.
Tensions in the ANC arose from accusations by Zuma supporters that he is the victim of a campaign to prevent him from succeeding Mbeki as president.
These related to Zuma’s dismissal earlier in the year and to charges he is facing following the corruption and fraud conviction of his financial adviser, Schabir Shaik.
The NWC said the report it discussed at Monday’s meeting captured the substance of interactions between the president and deputy president of the party over the past two months.
”The report was accepted by the NWC,” the committee said. ”The working committee was satisfied that the report would form the basis for a substantive discussion at the national executive committee meeting scheduled to take place this weekend.” — Sapa