On his brief visit to South Africa this week President Jacob Zuma was the chief executive officer that every chairperson wants on his team.
Zuma had to confront three thorny issues: the public row between Planning Minister Trevor Manuel and chief government spokesperson Jimmy Manyi, the concerns about his friendship with the Gupta family, and the adverse findings of Public Protector Thuli Madonsela against his police commissioner, Bheki Cele.
Zuma’s intervention was pointed and decisive, highlighting his shift in style away from a “let’s-please-everyone” approach. After clumsy attempts by the ANC and government to manage the Manuel-Manyi collision, with the ANC Youth League as Manyi’s main supporting act, Zuma put his foot down at the national working committee meeting on Monday. Addressing journalists afterwards, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe was unequivocal: Manuel is not a free agent and his open letter branding Manyi a “worst-order racist” was out of line.
On the Guptas Zuma’s intervention led to a wily sidestep: yes, let’s investigate — but we’ll investigate everyone. The ANC will look broadly at the influence of business people on politics. As with nationalisation of the mines, broadened by the ANC to “state involvement in key sectors of the economy”, the ruling party managed to deflect attention from the Guptas who, like an effervescent tablet in water, will now dissolve into a broad and vague process.
Zuma delegated responsibility for dealing with the public protector’s findings to Minister of Justice Jeff Radebe and Cabinet secretary Cassius Lubisi. But the Manuel-Manyi spat was the most important because, at its heart, lies the alienation of coloured voters from the ANC and the party’s ongoing electoral failures in the Western Cape, Manuel’s constituency.
In the Western Cape, and national government circles, rumours abounded that Manuel would resign after Mantashe’s public reprimand. Since writing the letter Manuel has refrained from further comment, raising suspicions that he might be planning his exit from the government.
Principled issue
The national executive committee (NEC) meeting this weekend will tread carefully in tackling the fallout. But those close to him say he has no plans to step down. “For Trevor this is a principled issue: no one in the ANC should ever make a statement that makes people doubt the commitment to non-racialism,” said one.
“There is no talk of him standing down. This is an environment where you come to work — when things like this happens, life goes on,” said a close Manuel associate.
Last week Manyi claimed the two men had already kissed and made up. An NEC member, who is also a member of Zuma’s executive, said disciplinary action was not on the cards for Manuel because the youth league, which accused him of siding with right-wing forces opposed to the ANC, would also need to be taken to task.
One government official said: “We can’t get all touchy-feely about these matters; we must learn from it and move on.”
But a frank discussion about the issue is expected, during which the national leadership is likely to demand an explanation for the proposed employment equity legislation that prompted Manyi’s statement about the “over-concentration” of coloured people in the Western Cape. “The matter needs to be digested properly. What Manyi said a year ago is hugely problematic for the ANC,” said one source.
The high-level ANC source expected some in the NEC to demand an apology from Manuel because Manyi had been forced to make one. “But we must also come to a point where we agree to handle these matters in a better way than we have up to now,” the source said. “With the local government elections coming up we’re trying to build unity.”
A source close to Zuma said that the ANC had considered the matter closed when it came out strongly against Manyi’s statement. “For anyone to grandstand afterwards was ill-discipline. What Trevor did was to come out as a coloured leader and to sustain the issue in public when the ANC felt it had dealt with it. “He unnecessarily created a situation where Manyi was speaking for the Africans and Manuel for coloureds.”
Asked if Manuel would be asked to resign, the source was adamant that Zuma still had full confidence in him. Veteran ANC MP Ben Turok said the legislation at the heart of the dispute was “very poor and too ambitious” and needed to be reviewed.
He especially took issue with the fact that there had been no effort to consult affected parties.