Limpopo ANC rejects Zuma’s two deputy presidents proposal

President Jacob Zuma appears to have suffered another setback in his campaign to push for his ex-wife, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, to replace him at the helm of the ANC – this time in Limpopo.

The provincial ANC leadership has decided not to debate a power-sharing proposal Zuma made at last week’s national policy conference until they are officially ordered to.

Zuma said he wanted it to be debated by ANC structures around the country.

Limpopo ANC spokesperson Khumbudzo Ntshavheni dismissed it as “just a proposal”.

In an interview with The Citizen yesterday, Ntshavheni said: “That was not part of the conference’s resolutions in plenary. The matter is not part of items in our next PEC meeting. We will wait until the NEC officially communicates on the matter with us.”

The Limpopo leadership’s stance indicates it views the idea as a way to ensure Dlamini-Zuma is not sidelined at the December elective conference.

The attitude of the provincial executive committee in Limpopo also confirms that Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa’s standing is high in the province of his birth.

Zuma claimed the proposal was designed to alleviate factionalism during and after party elective conferences. He said that it was intended to unite the divided party and return it to national glory.

But it has not been well received, even by his own supporters.

Many senior ANC leaders view it as a way of slipping Dlamini-Zuma into the party’s top six if she loses to Ramaphosa in the ANC presidential race.

Political analyst Lesiba Tefo said the writing was on the wall now that the Zuma faction was losing support in some provinces and within the tripartite alliance.

He saw the proposal as a sign Zuma’s ex-wife was “in the intensive care unit looking for an urgent blood transfusion”.

Tefo added: “During the Mangaung conference, the then deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe was never given the same treatment. This was because the Zuma camp knew beyond any shadow of doubt they were going to win the conference. But now the tables have turned against them, and Zuma invents a power-sharing plan aimed at suiting Dlamini-Zuma and her coterie.”

Last week, ANC presidential hopeful Mathews Phosa described the proposal as “self-serving with intentions to sneak his ex-wife” into the party’s top position in case her faction loses in December.

He branded it “daylight rape of democracy”, adding: “If ANC branches allow the proposal to walk, then greed, state capture, gatekeeping, purging and patronage, which are characteristics of Zuma’s leadership, will continue to be the order of the day.” – amatlala@citizen.co.za