/ 19 January 2009

Zuma case, Motlanthe rumours top of ANC’s agenda

African National Congress (ANC) leader Jacob Zuma’s graft case and rumoured tensions within the ruling party involving President Kgalema Motlanthe are on the agenda of its national working committee meeting on Monday.

ANC spokesperson Carl Niehaus said the party’s top leadership would discuss Zuma’s legal options after the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) ruled in favour of the National Director of Public Prosecutions last Monday.

”We are actually very open to say that it is on the agenda,” said Niehaus, but he emphasised that the ANC was searching for a ”legal solution” to the pending charges.

The SCA last week overturned a Pietermaritzburg High Court ruling that in effect halted Zuma’s prosecution on charges of corruption, fraud, money laundering and racketeering.

The SCA said in its judgement that Pietermaritzburg High Court Judge Chris Nicholson made several errors in a September 12 2008 ruling.

The charges against Zuma create a difficult situation for the ANC, although the party insists Zuma remains its presidential candidate ahead of general elections this year.

But his legal woes are not the only topic on the agenda.

Dealing with the ‘rumours’
Niehaus said the working committee meeting would also discuss weekend newspaper reports of tensions between Motlanthe and some ANC leaders.

The Sunday Times reported that some senior ANC members were unhappy with several decisions Motlanthe had taken since succeeding Thabo Mbeki, who was ousted after the Pietermaritzburg High Court implied that he was involved in a political plot against Zuma.

The City Press reported that South African Communist Party secretary general Blade Nzimande was eyeing the position of deputy president of the country after general elections.

Up to now, many believed Motlanthe had been earmarked for that job.

”These are really just rumours, but we want to deal with it comprehensively, in the sense of putting an end to it. We believe we need to talk with the authority of the NWC [national working committee],” said Niehaus.

The City Press said several independent sources had confirmed that there was a group within the ANC opposed to Motlanthe becoming Zuma’s deputy president.

Zuma, whose lawyers have met with the National Prosecution Authority since the SCA ruling, have several legal options available, including an appeal to the Constitutional Court and an application for a permanent stay of prosecution.

”If a deal is worked out, it must be evident Mr Zuma doesn’t evade the law because he is president of the ANC. I think it’s time to ask: ‘Are we going to land up with an outcome where we could realistically say the same would have happened if Mr Zuma was an unemployed shack-dweller?”’ political analyst Steven Friedman said.

‘A political case’
The party said in a statement after the SCA judgement that it was important to note that it had nothing to do with the guilt or otherwise of the ANC president.

”Nor does it make any pronouncements on the merits of the charges previously brought by the NPA,” said the party.

Following the ruling last Monday ANC national executive committee member Mathole Motshekga told several hundred Zuma supporters outside the court that Zuma was ”not facing any legal trial”.

”It is a political case. It remains a political case. It is a continuation of the political agenda we and our alliance complained about,” he said to loud cheers.

He dismissed the SCA decision which, ”with the greatest respect, was wrong”, as mere rivalry between legal minds.

”We are dealing with the interpretation of the law by two different judges who obviously hold two different approaches of interpretations,” he said. — Sapa