Share

Splits widen in ANC as Mthembu breaks ranks

Johannesburg - Splits are widening in South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) over President Jacob Zuma’s leadership and a decision by prosecutors to charge Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.

The depth of the unease in the party was revealed on Sunday when the ANC’s chief whip in Parliament, Jackson Mthembu, said members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) - including Zuma and his deputy Cyril Ramaphosa - should all step down from the party’s decision-making body. Unless the ANC changes course, it risks losing power in 2019 general elections, he told Johannesburg’s City Press newspaper.

The public has lost confidence in the ANC “because of factional behavior, because of arrogance, and now, under our watch, a sitting minister is spuriously charged with fraud”, Mthembu, who sits on the NEC, told Johannesburg-based broadcaster eNCA. “Perhaps we are not the leadership that can take the ANC forward.”

Mthembu’s comments signal a deepening crisis in the ANC’s leadership at a time when the government is battling to stave off a credit-rating downgrade to junk.

Opposition to Zuma’s leadership has coalesced around Gordhan, who’s clashed with the president over the management of the national tax agency and state companies as well as the affordability of nuclear power plants Zuma wants to build, since being appointed to his post in December.

Gordhan case

Prosecutors said this month they planned to charge Gordhan for illegally allowing a tax agency official to retire and be rehired on a temporary contract during a previous stint as finance minister.

Opposition parties, analysts and increasing numbers of ANC leaders say the case is a political stitch-up aimed at allowing Zuma to appoint a more pliant head of the National Treasury. Gordhan, who’s due to appear in court on November 2, denies wrongdoing.

READ: NPA can’t win fraud, theft case against Pravin Gordhan: Expert legal analysis

Zuma has been able to count on the NEC to shield him from a series of scandals since he became president in 2009, including a Constitutional Court ruling that he violated his oath of office by ignoring a directive by the public protector to repay taxpayer funds spent on upgrading his private home.

His refusal to quit, coupled with allegations that a wealthy family has wielded influence over his government, known as “state capture,” and a sluggish economy all contributed to the ANC’s worst-ever electoral performance in a local elections in August.

READ: Why Pravin Gordhan can’t quit as finance chief

“Mthembu’s comments indicate an unprecedented level of conflict among senior ANC leaders,” Anthony Butler, a politics professor at the University of Cape Town, said by phone.

Treasury attacks

Calls for Zuma to resign or be fired have also come from Save South Africa, a group that’s led by Sipho Pityana, the chairperson of gold producer AngloGold Ashanti [JSE:ANG], and backed by former finance minister Trevor Manuel, civil-rights and church groups. It intends staging a protest outside the courthouse in Pretoria when Gordhan is due to appear.

“Attacks on National Treasury are nothing less than an unbridled attempt at further state capture and designed to get unfettered access to state resources,” the group said in a statement on Sunday.

“We must send a strong message that when our sovereignty is threatened we are able to transcend our differences in defence of the motherland.”

Mthembu declined to comment further when contacted on his mobile phone. ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said party leaders were accountable to the branches that elected them and they wouldn’t quit.

No confidence

There’s little chance the NEC will resign because “it is the sovereign decision-making body of the ANC between leadership conferences and the party has no structure to disband it”, Butler said.

Zuma, whose second term as ANC leader is due to end late next year and his second and final term as president in 2019, has denied intentionally breaking the law.

The Democratic Alliance has said it will table a motion of no confidence in Zuma in Parliament by the end of the year. The ANC, which controls 62% of the seats in Parliament, has easily seen off several previous opposition attempts to dismiss the president.

Asked if the ANC would allow its lawmakers to decide how they would vote this time around, Mthembu said: “When the time comes, the ANC will deal with it.”

Despite the rising criticism, Butler still expects the ANC to rally around Zuma and deal with its leadership disputes internally.

“They see whatever strife there is in the party as a family affair that has little, if nothing, to do with anyone else,” he said.

Read Fin24's top stories trending on Twitter:

We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Rand - Dollar
18.90
+0.2%
Rand - Pound
23.86
+0.2%
Rand - Euro
20.36
+0.3%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.31
+0.3%
Rand - Yen
0.12
+0.2%
Platinum
908.05
0.0%
Palladium
1,014.94
0.0%
Gold
2,232.75
-0.0%
Silver
24.95
-0.1%
Brent Crude
87.00
+1.8%
Top 40
68,346
0.0%
All Share
74,536
0.0%
Resource 10
57,251
0.0%
Industrial 25
103,936
0.0%
Financial 15
16,502
0.0%
All JSE data delayed by at least 15 minutes Iress logo
Company Snapshot
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE
Government tenders

Find public sector tender opportunities in South Africa here.

Government tenders
This portal provides access to information on all tenders made by all public sector organisations in all spheres of government.
Browse tenders