The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) will not ask President Thabo Mbeki to step down as a nominee for the top leadership position in the ruling party.
”We have got no right to ask anybody who has been nominated to step down. It’s undemocratic,” ANCYL president Fikile Mbalula said in Johannesburg on Wednesday. ”Mbeki has a democratic right to stand.”
He added: ”What the president says about standing or not standing in relation to the ANC conference, it is a matter that he himself as the person being nominated has got a right to express his views … At the end of the day the wishes of the people … must be expressed in a democratic process.”
The ANCYL announced last week that 34 of its 38 regions had voted to nominate Zuma as the new ANC president, with only two backing Mbeki.
It saw the outcomes of the provincial general councils as an endorsement of its stance.
”While we appreciate that this is but the conclusion of the first phase of the electoral process, we are, however, satisfied that these represent the will and conviction of the majority of the ANC membership on the ground,” Mbalula said.
He nonetheless emphasised that the league would be bound by the outcomes of the ANC’s national conference in Polokwane next month ”whether or not such outcomes are in our favour”.
”At the end of the day the wishes of the people … must be expressed in a democratic vote.”
If Mbeki was chosen, ”we are ready to accept that”, said Mbalula.
It is critical that the conference ”abolish the cult of personalities and individuals”, he said, adding this referred to ”any individual who has got an uncontrollable desire for power”.
There is no one nominated for party leadership who is not ”quality”, said Mbalula. The ANCYL would only be concerned if an unknown person was elected. ”We’ll be worried if the ANC leadership elects people like [United Democratic Movement leader] Bantu Holomisa. If Trevor Manuel becomes number one, we’ll be happy about that. We don’t want surprises.”
The league said it would be happy if ANC chairperson Makhenkesi Stofile was chosen; it would also be happy if Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was elected.
It does not necessarily want a leadership consisting only of people already in the government, which would mean being ”governed by the government”. ”We want a balance.”
Mbalula likened talk that Zuma would still be charged with corruption to the ”swart gevaar” of old.
”Charging or not charging, we are firm about our position,” he said. ”We have always emphasised that this Zuma case has never been characterised by justice. It’s all about injustice. It’s all about justice delayed, justice denied.”
Even if Zuma’s was arrested and charged, that would not make him guilty. ”The presumption of innocence actually applies.”
In Limpopo, ”no court or judiciary will determine leadership for the ANC. It is the membership of the ANC that will determine leadership for the ANC,” said Mbalula. ”There is no amount of charging or arrest … that will deter us from our position.”
The only thing that would change the league’s position on Zuma was if ”someone dies”. — Sapa