Tensions among staffers in the presidency have reached boiling point and are threatening delivery, people close to President Jacob Zuma have told the Mail & Guardian.
Problems among personnel in the president’s office came to light when the presidency’s chief operating officer, Jessie Duarte, resigned in April, after only a few months in her position. She had complained to the ANC that she was being undermined by fellow staffers. Insiders say Zuma refused to get involved and told the warring parties to go and “sort things out among yourselves”.
Duarte then quit her position as second in charge in the presidency.
Presidency officials and Zuma advisers, who did not want to be named, told the M&G this week that tensions were reaching boiling point.
“The problem is that it is starting to affect delivery,” one said. “If you look at the State of the Nation address, there were people who were supposed to make key inputs into the document but were never given the opportunity.”
The M&G was told that other incidents that had fuelled tensions included Zuma’s visits to Balfour, where he was booed by residents, and to Sweetwaters, where he claimed not to have known about the conditions under which the people were living, which was perceived as distancing himself from his grassroots followers.
Chief targets of unhappiness in the presidency are Zuma’s recently appointed communications adviser, Zizi Kodwa, and the head of Zuma’s private office, Lakela Kaunda.
Presidency insiders say Zuma takes his cues from Kaunda and Kodwa because they were key strategists during his 2007 campaign for the ANC presidency and this means he sidelines those with greater experience and ANC seniority.
Seniority was also a factor in Duarte’s departure, her former colleagues say. “Jessie is a national executive committee member. She is a national working committee member. She has so much experience and yet these people undermine her,” a presidency source sympathetic to Duarte told the M&G.
“They are young people, they are very bright, but they have no standing in the ANC. The president did not win the election, the ANC did. So now we can’t say it’s all about Jacob Zuma; it’s about the ANC,” the source said.
Unhappiness over Kaunda
Presidential advisers have been unhappy about Kaunda, in particular, who is said to be assuming more responsibility than is formally hers.
Zuma’s economic adviser, Mandisi Mpahlwa, and his security adviser, Charles Nqakula, had to remind Kaunda earlier this year that “they don’t report to her”, presidency officials told the M&G.
“It had to do with tone. She told them something that the president wanted and they took exception to the way she talked to them. So they had to remind her that they don’t report to her, but to the principal.”
A reshuffle in the communications unit of the presidency last year saw Kaunda taking over the management of seven officials, including presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya. Although insiders insist that Magwenya has not been sidelined, it is clear that Kodwa has a direct line to Zuma and can overrule Magwenya.
“There will be times when, before Vincent responds, he needs to bounce his response off Zizi to make sure it is ‘on message’,” an insider said, pointing out that this significantly reduced the power of the spokesperson.
It has been reported that Magwenya is looking to leave the presidency and return to his career in corporate communications.
But a presidency source sympathetic to Kodwa said Zuma needed Kodwa’s help: “Zizi has to help the man navigate the PR nightmares that keep cropping up around him. There were gaps in the communications. Why can’t people come in and plug the gaps?”
A presidential adviser told the M&G that Kodwa and Kaunda had to help Zuma secure a second term as president, “because if he goes, what happens to them?”
‘Uncomfortable with those who work’
But it is felt the two should consult other, more experienced officials. Citing the Balfour embarrassment, an official with communications experience said: “Who said take the president to Balfour again? He had nothing to show the people, nothing has changed. And then he got booed. That could’ve been avoided.”
Zuma’s personal crises, such as his child with Sonono Khoza and recent revelations about one of his wives’ alleged infidelity, were also poorly managed, some insiders believe.
“The president is a traditionalist who takes things like age very seriously,” one said. “These young people cannot tell him, ‘Mr President, do this.’ Then [they should] get Charles Nqakula in because he is of that generation and can talk to the Âpresident.”
Two sources in the presidency sympathetic to Kodwa say unhappiness about him derives from the laziness and personal ambition of others.
“If people are sluggish in their work and someone comes in and steers the ship, naturally people get shaken. Some people feel comfortable to draw a salary every month while doing nothing, so they are uncomfortable with those who work,” one said.
Another said: “It is clear that some are trying to position themselves closer to our principals so that they can get ahead.”
Kaunda was out of the country this week. She has, in the past, denied that she has exclusive access to the president, saying her powers are greatly exaggerated. Kodwa declined to comment and Magwenya did not respond to telephone calls and emails.