President Jacob Zuma and the African National Congress (ANC) national working committee (NWC) will on Monday meet with the more than 100 party veterans who are unsatisfied with the state of the country and want him to step down.
The 106 veterans include respected anti-apartheid struggle stalwarts such as Ahmed Kathrada, Andrew Mlangeni, Gertrude Shope, Trevor Manuel, Mavuso Msimang, Sheila Sisulu and Ben Turok. They authored a document titled “For the Sake of Our Future” in which they decried the political and economic situation in the country, rampant corruption, “the inability of the ANC to act against corruption, nepotism, factionalism, arrogance and election slates in the ANC and its alliance partners”.
They said the conduct of the ANC in recent times regarding, among others, the Nkandla saga and the alleged undermining of former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s office had placed the organisation in an “unenviable position of breaching the Constitution and the country’s democracy itself”.
At a media briefing earlier this month, the veterans said their attempts to seek a meeting with the ANC top six leaders was met with disappointing responses from party secretary general Gwede Mantashe.
They feared that the party would lose more votes in the 2019 general elections after losing three major metros to the Democratic Alliance (DA) following the August local government, thanks to the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) lending its vote to the DA.
During a series of rallies in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga over the weekend, Zuma urged supporters to be resilient and forge ahead in the face of a divided ANC.
An upbeat Zuma, who addressed party cadres’ forums in isiZulu on Friday and Saturday, said he was not a thief, but knew those who were responsible for stealing from the public coffers and would reveal such information when ready to do so. Despite a growing chorus for him to resign, Zuma said he was going nowhere, and that the ANC would survive its current problems.
Opposition parties laid into Zuma on Sunday, with the EFF and the DA saying it was the President’s constitutional duty to report those who stole public funds to the police.
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