After months of acrimony, the crunch has come at last

ANC presidential hopeful Jacob Zuma has vowed that he will not step down as ANC leader if he is charged.

Zuma’s comments, made to the BBC on the eve of his electoral battle with President Thabo Mbeki at the ANC’s conference in Polokwane, came as the National Prosecuting Authority indicated that it was ready to pile new corruption and tax evasion charges on him next year.

“Why should I step down? You know what would that mean, if there were charges and I stepped down? It would mean that I plead guilty before even going to court,” he said.

“What would be the logic of it? I see no logic in it. The day, if I am taken to court, that the Judge says: ‘Zuma, we find you guilty’, as I walk out of court I will say to the ANC I am stepping down, I have been found guilty.”

All major roads leading in and out of Polokwane have been manned by traffic cops and soldiers since Friday as an expected 6000 delegates, journalists and observers started trickling in.

A task team of ANC officials and the SA Police Service is co-ordinating the security effort for the party’s most important conference in its history.

A heavily guarded Zuma arrived in Polokwane in a nine-car security convoy with 12 bodyguards, following unverified reports that an informant had told police of a plot to assassinate him. The Sunday Times understands that a senior security official briefed Zuma in person on Friday about the alleged plot.

Fuelling paranoia in the Zuma camp was a burglary at his Durban beachfront flat on Thursday.

Zuma’s rival, Mbeki, flew in to Polokwane in the presidential jet and immediately went into a meeting with ANC veteran Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who has been trying to broker a truce between the two men this week.

Madikizela-Mandela’s meeting with Mbeki followed a similar meeting with Zuma at his Forest Town home on Friday. Zuma told Madikizela-Mandela that he would not agree to “leadership by arrangement” and rejected any attempt to introduce a “subverted democracy”.

In a day of dramatic last- minute developments :

• Madikizela-Mandela appealed to the ANC’s Top Six for an “opportunity” to address the conference this morning and sell her unity plan directly to delegates;
• The Zuma camp rejected an offer from the Mbeki camp that government policy chief and Mbeki ally Joel Netshitenzhe stand for the position of secretary-general unopposed while current secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe stand for the less powerful chairmanship unopposed;
• Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool warned that if Mbeki did not win, the “disciples of Jacob Zuma” would “make his life hell” between now and 2009;
• The National Prosecuting Authority alleged in its Constitutional Court papers that Zuma had in fact received more than R4-million from convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik over a 10-year period;
• Zuma supporters moved to have the voting done manually because they do not “trust” the electronic voting system;
• ANC stalwart and North West provincial Speaker Thandi Modise defied her province and accepted the Zuma camp’s nomination for the deputy secretary-general position; and
• Zuma supporters prepared to issue a warning to ANC national chairman and Mbeki ally Mosiuoa Lekota to recuse himself from chairing the conference or else conduct the proceedings impartially.

“Our feeling is that we should allow him to continue and only push to have him removed if he misbehaves and abuses the chair during the first day, particularly the electoral commission session,” said one Zuma ally.

In his interview with the BBC, Zuma said he would let Mbeki finish his presidential term.

“Why should he leave office early? He must finish out his term smoothly and nicely. It’s not a problem. That space also allows the ANC president to lead the [2009 election] campaign without necessarily having to deal with government every morning so that he can put every effort into the ANC.”

Zuma dismissed Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s opposition to his candidacy, saying he should stay out of politics.

“I have avoided answering the question about Tutu because I respect him. The business of the leaders of the church, in terms of what God has said: they must pray for people, not condemn them. I will expect him to pray, not to condemn.”

He said it was “dangerous” for the clergy to become involved in politics.

The mood was tense as delegates arrived at the Polokwane airport for official registration.

Delegates defiantly wore Zuma T-shirts, flouting the party’s directive banning all T-shirts bearing faces of candidates.

Tempers flared outside the registration hall with Mbeki lobbyist Andile Nkuhlu exchanging strong words with a Zuma lobbyist, Bobo Thwane, with each demanding that the other’s preferred candidate stand down.

Registration of delegates was disrupted as security staff battled to control a large number of Mbeki and Zuma supporters who insulting each other and singing songs praising their respective candidates. Busloads of delegates from the OR Tambo region in the Eastern Cape had arrived moments earlier wearing “100% Zuma” T-shirts and singing: “Phuma Mbeki! Ngena Zuma!” (Get out, Mbeki! In with Zuma!)

In a bid to control potential damage, government members Susan Shabangu and Thoko Didiza expelled photographers.

Explaining the rejection of the compromise list proposal, a KwaZulu-Natal Zuma lobbyist said: “We think this is an attempt by Mbeki’s supporters to control Jacob Zuma once he is elected.”

Another said: “It is too late for any kind of a deal. There is only one way that this is going to be settled and that is through the vote.”

The ANC Youth League also strongly rejected Madikizela-Mandela’s proposal.

“We remain opposed to the subversion of ANC internal democracy for political expediency. Leadership must be an expression of the will of the people [and] must be elected by the people and not by arrangement,” said Youth League president Fikile Mbalula.

Despite the seemingly pro- Zuma sentiment in Polokwane, Mbeki campaigners have not thrown in the towel.

Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa addressed delegates at his home village in Olifantshoek in Limpopo where he urged them to vote for President Thabo Mbeki.

Shilowa addressed them on Friday at the Royal Kraal, where he distributed “a yellow document” that allegedly rubbished Zuma, saying that the ANC had warned him not to have a relationship with Schabir Shaik.

For his part, Rasool invited Western Cape delegates to his residence to explain his unequivocal support for Mbeki over Zuma.

He told the Sunday Times that Mbeki needed to be in full control at least until the end of his term in April 2009 and probably should be there to “mentor in” a successor over the following few years.

“The leadership of Thabo Mbeki — at least to see through his presidency of the country — is going to be absolutely critical in order for him not to once have to look over his shoulder and doubt whether he must complete his task.

“We are too delicately poised to afford a President who has to look over his shoulder,” he said.

He said it would “take pure guts on the part of the President to get to 2009 if he is not president of the party”.

He went on: “Based on my experience, he would have to develop a thick skin to withstand indignities, retreat into areas of high principle so as not to do unpleasant things that are asked of him and try to exude a dignity that is under constant attack.”

The head of the ANC’s electoral commission, Bertha Gxowa, told the Sunday Times that the commission was ready to go to manual voting if such a proposal was approved by the conference.

“I have told members of the electoral commission that everything that happens during the voting and counting should be recorded. This is not an ordinary election,” she said.

“If there are questions or doubts, they should be discussed.”

Meanwhile, Polokwane businesses were coining it as the ANC delegates poured into town.

While some ANC branch members will have to settle for the bare basics in the residential blocks on the campus of the University of Limpopo, the big spenders have snapped up five- star accommodation.

Prices for a suite at luxury game lodges scattered around Polokwane range from R900 to R3100 a night, while chain hotels charge a mere R500.

According to Limpopo Tourism and Parks, beds within a 50km radius of the conference venue are booked out and people are starting settle for a night’s sleep in other towns such as Magoebaskloof, Mokopane and Tzaneen.

Mbeki and some members of his Cabinet were booked into the ultra-luxurious Yellowstone Luxury Lodge while further down the same road in Burger Street, Zuma checked into a four-star guesthouse with three of his children.

Andre van Jaarsveldt, manager of the four-star Getaway Gateway Lodge, said it would be a “miracle” if anyone could still find an empty room.

A huge security blanket involving the police, army, intelligence agencies, VIP protection services and traffic authorities, has been thrown around the University of Limpopo, where the main conference will be held.

With acknowledgements to Moipone Malefane, Brendan Boyle, Buddy Naidu, Ndivhuho Mafela, Paddy Harper, Mpumelelo Mkhabela, Dominic Mahlangu and The Times.