Is Eastern Cape dumping Zuma?

Provincial ANC leaders hold talks in PE ahead of extended national working committee meeting

ANC Eastern Cape leaders, members of parliament and the Bhisho legislature held marathon talks in Port Elizabeth yesterday on how to deal with the mounting, unprecedented calls for President Jacob Zuma to step down.

The province is a key voice in the ANC and its stand on Zuma will carry considerable weight this week as the party goes into critical talks which will ultimately determine Zuma’s fate.

Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas and premier Phumulo Masualle were also at the meeting at the city’s council chambers.

Provincial secretary Oscar Mabuyane stuck to the party line later when asked what their stand was on Zuma’s presidency, following last week’s Constitutional Court judgment.

“There is an extended [national working committee] meeting [today] that we are attending,” he said.

“So the position of the ANC is, for now, informed by what the national officials have guided the ANC [on].”

On Friday, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said the party stood behind Zuma.

Party insiders, however, said although some in the ANC’s top six wanted Zuma to go, a compromise was reached to put up a united front until all consultations with different structures, including branches, were completed.

Asked if the Eastern Cape ANC’s public stance on Zuma could change depending on the outcome of a second meeting that was still ongoing last night, Mabuyane said “yes”.

“But, remember, the ANC is not a federal organisation,” he said.

“It is a unitary organisation. We’ve never had a situation where the lower structure will have different interpretations on organisational matters.”

However, insiders claimed yesterday’s behind-the-scenes talks laid bare that while the president still had support from some in the province, the ground had shifted, as key figures who had supported him in the Mangaung elective conference were changing allegiances.