ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma is posing a new dilemma for the party, which is unable to stop him from embarking on what appears to be a rejuvenated campaign for the presidency.
Zuma is due to address several upcoming alliance activities in several cities, including meetings of trade unions and activities organised by the ANC Youth League. He is using the meetings to articulate his previously unknown policies on economics, social development and the ruling alliance.
Last week Zuma’s supporters triumphed over the ANC and forced the party to allow him to speak at the South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) congress after it had initially delegated only its national chairperson, Mosiuoa Lekota, to speak at the meeting.
Zuma had originally been billed to speak, but was withdrawn at the last minute after ANC secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe said he would not be available as he was preparing for his corruption trial with his lawyers.
Zuma began his speech by implicitly criticising the government’s HIV/Aids treatment programme, saying: ”We cannot afford any mixed messages or ambiguity when it comes to the scourge of HIV and Aids — the lives of all our people are at stake here.
”The issue of treatment and its availability to those who need it is also critical. We must ensure that we support calls to ensure that such treatment is accessible, and to monitor its correct distribution.”
Zuma also made efforts to endear himself to the left by reiterating its position that there needs to be debate on the restructuring of the alliance. He also echoed views that the SACP and Cosatu needed to be treated as equal partners in the ruling alliance, which should be based on principles of mutual respect and recognition.
When asked if Zuma had spoken on behalf of the ANC at the Sadtu congress, ANC head of the presidency Smuts Ngonyama refused to give a definitive answer.
”I cannot say he was not speaking on behalf of the ANC, because he is the ANC deputy president.”
Asked about Zuma’s criticism of government policy, Ngonyama said it was up to journalists to analyse for themselves whether Zuma was articulating an ANC position.
Meanwhile, the organisations that are giving Zuma platforms to speak from say they are doing it only because he is available.
The ANC Youth League pointed out that it had, for example, invited President Thabo Mbeki to its 62nd anniversary celebrations this weekend, but was told that he had prior commitments.
Zuma is now scheduled to attend.
Mbeki is on a government imbizo in Port Elizabeth this weekend. Port Elizabeth is the only ANC region that has called for him to stay on for another term as ANC president.
While the ANC leadership finds itself unable to prevent its deputy president from campaigning in defiance of a national executive committee directive barring such activities until May next year, Zuma appears to have stepped up his campaign, which took a knock when he was accused of rape.
While Mbeki supporters and ANC traditionalists wince at Zuma’s behaviour and that of his fans, no one appears to be bold enough to tell the populist leader to fall in line.
In recent weeks, a slew of events designed to give Zuma the public platform he is denied by his enemies in the ANC have allowed him to win back some of the support he lost when his sexual escapades were made public during the rape trial.
A close associate of Zuma’s said he is trying to distance himself from negative perceptions about his style of leadership.
”He is trying to project what his presidency would be characterised by. That he would not be an aloof president. His willingness to address gatherings of alliance partners is an extension of his personal character of being approachable. He also wants to be seen as someone who subscribes to extensive consultation of other structures of the alliance, instead of centralising power or surrounding himself with sycophants.”