ANC council restores Zuma to party activities

Published Jul 1, 2005

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By Jeremy Michaels, Moshoeshoe Monare and Moipone Malefane

The ANC's national general council has reinstated ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma to party activities and structures.

Zuma voluntarily stepped down the day he was charged with corruption, but after heated debate of the council on Thursday he was reinstated.

"Delegates to the NGC felt very strongly that the deputy president should be active and not withdraw from party structures," ANC spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama said on Thursday night, confirming that Zuma had addressed the council and agreed to return to party activities.

Earlier at the meeting, Mbeki laid down the law to ANC members, but was made to endure the protests of Zuma's supporters. They sang "Zuma for President" soon after Mbeki delivered his opening address at the meeting, which was overshadowed by the corruption charges against Zuma.

Mbeki spoke twice of his concerns about what delegates should achieve over the next three days, given the challenges facing the ANC.

But, Mbeki did not make any direct mention of the Zuma issue, which dominated most other aspects of the first day of the conference.

One of the challenges, said Mbeki, was what the structures and members needed to do to realise the ANC's objectives.

Paying tribute to liberation struggle stalwarts who had died, Mbeki said the challenge for the ANC was "to develop cadres and members who are no less principled and no less committed to serving the people of SA than were the outstanding patriots whose names we mentioned".

But despite Mbeki's apparent calls for discipline and unity, Zuma's supporters sang out in chorus immediately after his speech, making their frustration clear to all. The president left the stage for a while and it was left to ANC secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe to explain Mbeki's decision to axe Zuma.

Motlanthe said never before had the ANC found itself in a situation where its deputy president faced criminal charges.

"Given that the ANC was a caring organisation, whose political and ideological positions were rooted in a deep emotional link to the value of life, the party was equally capable of feeling and experiencing pain.

"The ANC is understandably greatly pained by the events of last few weeks. It is a pain that each and every individual feels most acutely. We must understand and appreciate it," said Motlanthe.

He also emphasised, however, that the ANC would have to deal with the matter in a way that would maintain unity and also live up to "the responsibility to provide leadership to society on matters of public probity".

He underlined "the need to defend and uphold the rights of all affected individuals", a clear reference to Zuma's constitutional right to be innocent until proven guilty. This prompted a loud "Yebo (yes)!" from Zuma's supporters.

Motlanthe's call for the conference not to discuss the criminal case brought against Zuma was met with howls of discontent from the former deputy president's supporters.

He reminded the delegates that the "ANC has been faced with many daunting challenges in the course of its 93 (years)".

"It has responded to each of these challenges responsibly, humanly, rationally and politically," he said.

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