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President Thabo Mbeki is to stay in office despite another attempt to remove him this weekend by alliance partners.
On Sunday, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe was dismissive of calls to have Mbeki removed, arguing that the alliance summit had "not decided" on the motion that was put forward by the South African Communist Party (SACP) and others to have Mbeki removed from office.
"There is no such decision of the alliance," he said, stating that the media should not focus on issues that were raised during the summit but rather on the outcomes.
SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande was also dismissive of the discussions relating to Mbeki's possible axing as the country's president.
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'You win some, you lose some' "It was raised only as an optional consideration by the SACP but it is not a matter that has been decided by the summit," he said.
It is understood that Tokyo Sexwale, businessman and ANC national executive committee member, also expressed concern about an unworkable transition in which Mbeki remained the country's president after losing the party's leadership to Jacob Zuma in Polokwane.
Former Limpopo premier Ngoako Ramatlhodi is said to have been blunt about urging the summit to deal with Mbeki for committing too many mistakes.
But Mantashe said the summit had opted not to lay blame at anybody's feet for the problems facing the country but rather to address them.
He said Mbeki would not be required to "take an instruction" from the alliance on how to resolve the problems but the alliance and government would meet to discuss solutions.
Two additional summits - a broad summit for all allies of the movement and later a governance summit involving only the alliance and government - are planned for later this year at which problems and possible solutions will be debated.
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