ANC eThekwini comes out guns blazing for Zuma, Magashule ahead of NEC meeting

The ANC’s eThekwini region in KwaZulu-Natal on Wednesday expressed its unwavering support for ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule and former president Jacob Zuma, ahead of the governing party’s national executive committee (NEC) meeting this weekend.

“We believe that the persecution of these leaders is motivated by politics, working with those who want to polarise, destabilise, and burn down South Africa into ashes,” the regional leaders said in a statement on behalf of the branches it represents.

The virtual NEC gathering comes amid calls by the Eastern Cape ANC for Zuma to be suspended from the governing party over his declaration that he would defy a Constitutional Court (ConCourt) order compelling him to appear before the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture.

The NEC is also expected to discuss guidelines on the party’s 2017 resolution, which stipulates that members accused of serious crimes should “step aside“.

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The ANC’s integrity commission last year recommended that Magashule should “step aside” with immediate effect and that if he did not, the NEC should take action by suspending him. He faces corruption charges relating to his tenure as Free State premier.

The ANC’s eThekwini region, arguably the most powerful in the province, believes that Zuma and Magashule are being persecuted as part of an agenda to weaken the ANC internally and to discredit leaders and anyone who calls for economic transformation.

“The aim is to label leaders as thieves in order to maintain the status quo that favours apartheid beneficiaries,” the region said.

It said that Magashule had been persecuted since he was elected to the ANC’s top six in Nasrec in December 2017.

The region said the “step-aside” rule should be voluntary and not forced on comrades, saying that only branches had the power to remove and elect leaders of the ANC.

“There have been many attempts by some in the media to paint cadre Ace as corrupt, but they all have failed. We understand that the attacks are meant to weaken the ANC internally,” the ANC’s metro stated.

“The attacks on Ace Magashule have become so severe ever since he called for the radical transformation of the economy. His questioning of the mandate of the Reserve Bank has turned Ace into enemy number one of the monopoly capital. His biggest sin was to repeat ANC conference resolutions on the Reserve Bank and challenging the untransformed economic structure of our country.”

Integrity commission

The ANC region said it respected the integrity commission, but it should avoid being seen taking on internal factional battles.

“The step-aside rule must be read in conjunction with rule 25 of the ANC constitution as well as constitutional rights of individuals. Stepping aside must be voluntary and not be forced on comrades.

“Those who are calling for Ace to step aside must respect his constitutional rights as citizens. We are worried by new tendency whereby our leaders are dragged into courts but there are no charges and the state keeps on postponing these cases.”

The ANC region also pledged to support Zuma when he appears in court later this month for his corruption case in Pietermaritzburg.

“We will be persuading and mobilising ANC NEC and PEC [provincial executive committee] members, as well as other regions to support our former president Zuma. We will seek audience with provincial leadership to express our views and highlight the need of supporting president Nxamalala [Zuma’s clan name].”

Zuma’s ConCourt defiance

At the same time, the ANC eThekwini region said it was concerned about the ConCourt compelling Zuma to appear at the State Capture Commission, saying the ruling seemed to infringe on his constitutional rights.

“The courts as arms of state, are not above Constitution of the Republic, and the Bill of Rights. The rights can only be reviewed by politicians through a parliamentary process. In the absence of the parliamentary process, the ConCourt cannot assume the role of politicians and willy-nilly amend rights that president Zuma fought for. Courts must avoid being drawn to the political arena. Courts must avoid creating constitutional crisis for the Republic.”

The ANC’s eThekwini leadership said it would hold series of engagement with different structures of the party, alliance and civil society to mobilise them behind fight against the “injustices” against Zuma and Magashule.

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“Since last night, we have been approached by many comrades expressing their support for Nxamalala and Ace Magashule who will be joining us in this campaign,” the region said.

“Should we face any resistance and sabotage from those who are abusing state machinery, we will be left with no choice but to act silently.”

The regional leadership also called for unity within the ANC, saying “a divided ANC cannot claim authority over society”.

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