Durban - President Jacob Zuma and the National Working Committee were not likely to agree to calls by the ANC veterans for Zuma to go at a meeting in Pretoria on Monday.
The meeting was set up two weeks ago when the veterans, led by Rev Frank Chikane, Murphy Morobe and Cheryl Carolus, called for a meeting with Zuma.
The ANC veterans have been calling for a meeting for months to discuss the state of the party, and for Zuma to step down.
But the ANC NWC has put its foot down on calls for Zuma to go, and said such calls were premature.
It said the veterans must meet all members of the NWC, and not Zuma alone.
The stance of the NWC has given a strong signal that it would not agree to calls by the veterans at Monday’s meeting at the St George’s hotel in Irene for Zuma to step down.
The veterans have lamented the state of the party in the last few months, and said the loss of support for ANC in the local government elections in August had highlighted the crisis in the party and a need for intervention.
Former president Thabo Mbeki even intervened and called on Zuma to meet with the veterans.
Mbeki’s letter to Zuma has been questioned by the ANC and Zuma himself, who accused the former president of leaking it.
But Mbeki’s office denied that the former president had leaked the letter to the public.
Zuma said it was questionable how sincere the letter was, because it had become public before it reached his office.
Mbeki’s office said the letter was hand delivered to party headquarters, and was never leaked.
ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa said on Sunday they did not have the number of the veterans expected to form part of the meeting with the NWC.
In the past, Chikane had said there were 101 veterans who supported calls for Zuma to go and wanted to meet the president.
He said that number had now grown to 130, with more veterans starting to come out to voice their dissatisfaction with the state of the party under Zuma.
Recently, chairman of uMkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association, Kebby Maphatsoe, was blasted by the ANC for questioning the struggle credentials of the veterans of the party.
Maphatsoe and MKMVA are staunch backers of Zuma, together with the ANC Youth League and the ANC Women’s League.
They have all said Zuma would not resign, and would stay on until he had completed both his terms at Luthuli House and the Union Buildings.
The NWC’s decision two weeks ago that it was premature to call for Zuma to go could be a major stumbling block for the ANC veterans to get Zuma out of office.
Daily News