Publication: Business Day Date: 2005-11-22 Reporter: Vukani Mde Reporter: Karima Brown

Zuma in Retreat as ANC Scorns Conspiracy Claim

 

Publication 

Business Day
Date

2005-11-22

Reporter

 Vukani Mde, Karima Brown

Web Link

www.bday.co.za

 

In a major setback for Jacob Zuma, the African National Congress (ANC) national executive committee (NEC) yesterday rejected his supporters’ claims of a political conspiracy against him led by President Thabo Mbeki.

ANC secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe said the party’s rejection of the conspiracy claims, in a statement issued yesterday following a marathon three-day meeting of the executive, was binding on Zuma.

At a stroke, the party has removed Zuma’s most potent weapon in his bid for the ANC’s presidency in 2007, weakening him further in the run-up to his trial for corruption next year.

Zuma’s supporters have long argued his corruption trial was driven by a political conspiracy to dent his chances of succeeding Mbeki as ANC president.

Zuma’s succession bid has also been hobbled by an apparent NEC denial that he had presidential ambitions.

“The NEC accepted the reaffirmation conveyed by the president and deputy president that while carrying out his duties in the ANC and government, the deputy president has never sought to be elected to any position and has never engaged in, nor sought to encourage, any campaign on his behalf,” ANC spokesman Smuts Ngonyama told a media conference.

Zuma appeared to have been on the back foot at the meeting, and was forced to acknowledge to the NEC that he was the subject of a police investigation into claims of rape.

Although the explosive rape allegations were not formally on the NEC’s agenda and were not thoroughly discussed, NEC sources said Zuma felt “duty-bound” to report to the meeting about his latest troubles.

The rape allegation has undermined Zuma’s base, with many backers in the ANC’s alliance privately expressing alarm at the seriousness of the claims.

Confirmation in the media and by Zuma that police were indeed probing him for rape is likely to further rattle the camp.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions’ central executive last night discussed the new crisis around Zuma and the trade federation is to make an announcement later in the week.

The South African Communist Party will also discuss the Zuma crisis at its central committee this weekend.

There are already signs that the organisations — which have backed Zuma in the face of corruption charges — could backpedal should rape charges be brought against him.

But despite his growing isolation, Zuma managed to wrest some concessions from the ANC’s national leadership.

Ngonyama said that the NEC “understood” the basis for Zuma’s claim that there was a political conspiracy against him.

“Having considered the report presented by the president and deputy president, the NEC understands the events, information and circumstances that have impelled the deputy president to come to the conclusions he has reached regarding what he perceives as representing a ‘political conspiracy’,” he said.

Zuma also extracted an apology from his colleagues in the NEC for their failure to back a report by the public protector which made it clear that his rights had been abused by former national prosecutor Bulelani Ngcuka.

But, Motlanthe said, unfair treatment of Zuma by state organs did not amount to evidence of a deliberate Mbeki-led conspiracy.

With acknowledgement to Vukani Mde, Karima Brown and Business Day.