The African National Congress (ANC) has certainly been nettled by media reports that it intends replacing its premiers in the Western and Eastern Cape.
Mobbed by reporters at a press conference this week, secretary general Gwede Mantashe said there was no confusion, and that the party was ‘in the middle” of a process to address the issue.
The Sunday Times broke the story on July 13 and said the decision to axe the pair had been taken at a national executive committee meeting in Gauteng. It appears to signal that the party is starting its preparations for next year’s general election; perhaps it is pruning the dead wood in an effort to compete more effectively in those provinces.
Certainly, the party’s rule has been largely ineffective in the Eastern Cape, with most municipalities receiving qualified audits, and it seems politics in the Western Cape has largely been dominated by back-biting and point-scoring between Premier Ebrahim Rasool and Cape Town mayor Helen Zille.
Party spokesperson Jessie Duarte said sniffily over the weekend that she wouldn’t comment and would not talk about ‘press speculation”.
Of course, once the cat was out of the bag, there could be no going back. The ANC never seems to want to admit that it was wrong about something — who does? — and it would probably have liked to spin the situation in its favour; something along the lines of ‘loyal cadres being redeployed”.
This would have allowed the lame ducks to skulk off with at least a modicum of dignity, but clearly, all that is no longer possible.
At the time of writing, the party had still not made any substantive statement on the issue.
Mantashe said earlier in the week that the party was still processing the issues and appealed for “space” to do so. All that party president Jacob Zuma could say on Thursday was that South Africans should give the ANC a chance to deal with the ‘redeployment”.
Perhaps one of the pair could be dispatched to Gabon, apparently the least coveted of diplomatic postings.
For all its ponderous pronouncements, the ANC now needs to move swiftly to manage a situation that has rapidly moved out of its control. To prevaricate, ignore the press and then appeal for ‘space” seem like the actions of a party in crisis.
| FULL SPEED AHEAD |
NOT SO FAST |
Nelson Mandela
An obvious choice for our hero of the week is the former president who is turning 90. His achievements are being celebrated the world over, and South Africans still turn to him in times of crises, even though he has officially retired. We wish there could be another 90 years of Madiba magic. |
 Julius Malema
Clearly the ANC Youth League leader learnt nothing from the brouhaha following his “kill for Zuma” comments. Now he’s gone and said that “counter-revolutionaries” (including the DA) must be “eliminated”, leading the DA to report him yet again to the Human Rights Commission. Enough with the war talk already! |
Most-read stories
July 10 to 16
1. Triple play to save Zuma
A ‘brains trust” of legal and academic experts is helping the ANC devise a strategy to get its president, Jacob Zuma, off the hook — possibly by closing all investigations and prosecutions relating to the controversial arms deal for good.
2. Junta, not Mugabe, in charge
The military, not President Robert Mugabe, is in charge of Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Solidarity Forum said on Thursday.
3. ANC leaders meet Mugabe
Leaders of the African National Congress on Wednesday met President Robert Mugabe and expressed support for a dialogue to end the political crisis in neighbouring Zimbabwe, state television reported.
4. Mugabe’s dire hospital ward for MDC activists
Ward B3 of Gokwe general hospital looks much like any other in Zimbabwe’s decaying medical establishments, denuded of medicines, equipment and doctors by the country’s dramatic economic collapse.
5. A president’s travails
It’s not quite clear who is held in greater contempt: Robert Mugabe or Thabo Mbeki. In the merciless court of public perception, Mbeki is perhaps almost as guilty as Mugabe for the ongoing crisis in Zimbabwe. The case against Mugabe is straightforward.
6. Robert Mugabe ‘happy’ as UN sanctions bid fails
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe is “happy” at the veto of a draft United Nations resolution to impose tough new sanctions, the country’s ambassador to the world body told BBC television from New York on Saturday.
7. Shifting centre of power
The first real talks aimed at reaching a settlement in Zimbabwe began in Pretoria this past week.
8. Second day of Zim talks under way in Pretoria
Zimbabwe’s ruling party and opposition held a second day of talks in South Africa on Friday as the United Nations delayed a vote on fresh sanctions against Robert Mugabe’s regime after his one-man election.
9. Talks resume between Zim govt, opposition
President Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) will on Thursday begin preliminary talks in South Africa on ending Zimbabwe’s political crisis, an opposition source said.
10. Counter-revolutionaries must be ‘eliminated’
Remnants of the counter-revolution including the Democratic Alliance (DA) and those opposed to Jacob Zuma becoming South Africa’s next president must be eliminated, said African National Congress Youth League president Julius Malema on Sunday.