Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool, who campaigned strongly in favour of President Thabo Mbeki in the run up to the Polokwane conference, has been summoned to African National Congress headquarters at Luthuli House in Johannesburg, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) reported on Sunday.
The visit comes amid the party’s lekgotla in Cape Town’s apparent failure to resolve soured relations between the provincial leadership and those deployed in the provincial government, the report said.
The SABC said there have been calls for the dismissal of Rasool and several Cabinet ministers.
Fear stalks party
The Sunday Times reported that fear now stalks the corridors of ANC power as the party’s new president, Jacob Zuma, asserts his authority in Parliament, the provinces and the party structures.
”Top ANC leaders were told this week that many party members feared being axed from government positions because of their perceived loyalty to outgoing President Thabo Mbeki, who was ousted from the party leadership in December,” the newspaper said.
ANC MPs made their anxiety known to deputy party president Kgalema Motlanthe, deputy secretary general Thandi Modise and national chairperson Baleka Mbete in a closed lekgotla (meeting) of the ANC’s parliamentary caucus on Thursday.
”Modise assured caucus members that there was no need for ‘uncertainty’ and ‘insecurity’,” the paper wrote.
ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe told the newspaper on the sidelines of the party’s Eastern Cape lekgotla that there would not be a purge, but added: ”We cannot claim there is a moratorium on Cabinet reshuffles.”
At the Parliament meeting, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka distributed the government’s programme-of-action document but later withdrew it from MPs, saying it was confidential. That sparked concern among MPs who felt that the government ”did not trust them”.
MPs were left with Motlanthe’s 45-page document outlining the ANC’s priorities for the year, the newspaper reported.
At the parliamentary lekgotla, Zuma told MPs not to perpetuate the perception that the ANC was all about people securing positions for themselves. ”An MP said Zuma had told the caucus lekgotla that he was ‘personally bothered’ by the whispering campaigns.” – Sapa