Editorial: The ANC is at a crossroads

TODAY the ANC will hold an extended national working committee meeting in Cape Town. It is no ordinary gathering. It is the first of a series of talks which will ultimately decide on the future of Jacob Zuma as president.

While some hoped Zuma would throw in the towel on Friday, following a damning Constitutional Court judgment which left South Africans reeling, the ANC chose to stand by him – at least publicly.

Instead of taking decisive steps, the party chose to go on a fact-finding mission, supposedly to help it understand the national psyche of ordinary South Africans around the president.

The ANC has taken a public beating for this decision, especially from members who believe that it is yet more evidence that, under Zuma, the party has lost its moral compass.

We are yet to see what the outcome of this process will be.

Certainly, at face value, many South Africans, including ANC allies and stalwarts alike, have issued a rallying call for Zuma to do the honourable thing and step down for the sake of the country.

The ANC is at a crossroads.

What is left of its integrity will be put to the test in the coming weeks.

If insiders are to be believed, the ground is shifting inside the party.

Yesterday, the Eastern Cape leadership of the party, its members of parliament and the Bhisho legislature met in Port Elizabeth, debating the Constitutional Court ruling and its implications for the ruling party, particularly in an election year.

The ANC will launch its election manifesto in Port Elizabeth next Saturday.

The questions to ask, however, are how the ANC and Zuma expect the people of Nelson Mandela Bay and South Africa at large to believe that, under his leadership, the ANC cares about making our cities work, getting the basics right and, most importantly, upholding the rule of law?