The governing party has once again let Jacob Zuma off the hook, if remarks by ANC secretary general Ace Magashule earlier this week after are anything to go by.
Magashule’s comments came after the party’s top six officials met with Zuma on Monday via Zoom, tasked by the national executive committee (NEC) to engage with him on his decision to defy both the state capture commission and a Constitutional Court order.
It was a marathon seven-hour meeting, and yet the ANC provided very little of substance on the outcome. At first the party put out a two-paragraph statement confirming the six had met with Zuma and had “very positive and constructive discussions”. Later in the day it announced that Magashule would brief the media — if we can even call it a briefing.
The secretary-general, who is a Zuma ally and seen to be part of the so-called radical economic transformation faction in the party, bizarrely told journalists it was “one of the best ever held meetings”. The outcome, according to Magashule, was that the top six agreed to give Zuma space to consult with his lawyers on whether to appear before the Zondo commission.
Magashule said they and Zuma were “at one” on respecting the constitution and the rights of the individual. When asked about the attacks on the judiciary, a flippant Magashule said disagreeing with a judge does not mean disrespect for the judiciary.
The question that remained unanswered was whether the ANC actually told Zuma he was in the wrong. We still don’t know, but it doesn’t seem like it. Magashule’s message on Monday night was starkly different from President Cyril Ramaphosa’s assurances to journalists at an SA National Editors Forum engagement two weeks ago. When asked about the upcoming meeting between the ANC and Zuma, Ramaphosa said: “The message will be earnest, simple and straightforward, that let us all abide by our constitution, [and] respect our institutions, particularly the judiciary.”
Was this message delivered to Zuma by Ramaphosa himself? If it was, I am not sure Magashule would communicate it. What all of this does prove is that the ANC has once again let Zuma off easily. Yet it does so at its own peril. The ANC has always given Zuma a long rope. This has had a negative effect on the party’s electoral showing, especially in the 2016 local government elections when it lost control of Johannesburg, Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay metros.
The ANC was naive to think the years of allegations of corruption involving Zuma and others would not hurt its electoral support. In August 2016, when Ramaphosa was deputy president and the election result still pending, he visited the Electoral Commission of SA’s results centre. The party had already conceded defeat in Nelson Mandela Bay, but Ramaphosa confidently told journalists it would “emerge as the leading party” in metros such as Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, eThekwini and Tshwane.
He went on to say: “There are very good shades, good shades of green that one needs to look at. We [will] wait until the story of the metros comes out and I’m sure, once it comes out, I’m sure people will be surprised that the ANC, which they thought was on its knees falling, will be rising to the top once again.”
As we know, this is not what happened. Besides losing Johannesburg and Tshwane, the party’s support declined overall, and it only managed to hold on to Ekurhuleni because of a coalition agreement.
It was only after that defeat that the ANC started debating whether Zuma should remain as leader. There were almost two years of discussions, fights and debates. It was only after the 2017 Nasrec conference, where Ramaphosa won the party presidency, that real moves to recall Zuma were made, culminating in his resignation in February 2018.
The next year a general election followed, and the party’s electoral support started to improve largely because of “Ramaphoria” and his anticorruption stance. But the faith people had that Ramaphosa could clean up the rot in the party and the state is starting to wane, and we are now only a few months away from a local government election.
If the ANC is unable to rein in Zuma, who Ramaphosa called a “disciplined member of the ANC”, and take some sort of action against him, it will in all likelihood be unable to take action against others, including Magashule.
Then the party will essentially be where it was ahead of the 2016 local government elections — turning a blind eye to the corruption that bedevils the party and paying a dear price.
• Quintal is political editor.
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