ANC MPs ‘want Zuma out but won’t be told to vote with opposition’

So loyal are ANC MPs to their party and its policies that voting against President Jacob Zuma is not an option.

With Zuma facing impeachment next week, several ANC MPs said though they were under pressure to express their discontentment with Zuma’s leadership, they would rather do so through internal structures, namely the ANC elective conference happening in December.

The DA, UDM and EFF have all called for a vote of no confidence in Zuma and are spearheading a campaign to have the ANC’s MPs vote with them. This campaign includes emails and text messages calling on the MPs to side with them during the debate.

Former Limpopo premier Cassel Mathale, former youth league president Lulu Johnson and Masela Kekana all told Sunday Times they did not support Zuma but would not go against party principle.

“You don’t even have to convince people. We’ll vote with ANC. We have a president, and it’s Zuma. I might not like him, but he is my president,” said Mathale.

John and Kekana shared the same sentiments, telling the weekly Zuma should have stepped down, but it was still their duty to support the ANC.

“This thing was supposed to have been resolved long ago … with the president swallowing his pride, agreeing to resign in the interest of himself, the ANC, the economy and country. Yes, we’re in the majority. Yes, we shall defeat the enemy. Yes, we shall emerge triumphant. But at the end of the day, we’re not an island. There’s a society out there watching us, every step we take,” said Johnson.

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