Johannesburg – ANC stalwarts have upped the ante against President Jacob Zuma’s leadership, and called on the national executive committee (NEC) to decide his fate.
The NEC is expected to meet at the weekend, and the stalwarts have written to the structure that it should address the challenges dogging the party, and the fact that no agreement had been reached on the calls for a national consultative conference.
ANC stalwart Murphy Morobe said the group had written a letter to the NEC which “expresses our genuine trouble and why the NEC has to stand up and play its role according to the ANC constitution”.
Morobe, in a media briefing in Joburg on Tuesday, said the crisis affected government’s performance.
The group also welcomed last week’s release of the SA Council of Churches’ (SACC) “unburdening panel report” which looked into allegations of state capture and patronage networks in the country.
Reverend Frank Chikane said they felt the issues they had raised with the ANC’s national working committee and their concerns had not reached the NEC itself. He said if that if the government was behind state capture, “its legitimacy comes into question”.
Another stalwart, Sheila Sisulu, said the SACC report was “frightening” and that it would be ignored “at our peril”.
Former safety and security minister Sydney Mufamadi said: “We are calling on the NEC leadership that the country and the world are watching what they will do with the SACC report. People want to feel they are governed by a government that is accountable.”
ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe could not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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