The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal has stood by its decision to support former President Jacob Zuma during his arms deal trial appearance at the Pietermaritzburg Division of the High Court, with the party’s provincial leaders also confirming their presence at tomorrow’s trial.
In a media briefing earlier, following a meeting of the provincial executive committee (PEC)) of the ANC over the weekend, provincial secretary Mdumiseni Ntuli said the structure had expressed a serious concern about a widespread distortion with regard to its position on Zuma’s matter.
“The PEC understands the purpose of the distortion as a deliberate effort to divide the African National Congress and weaken its leadership role in society.
’’This is essentially part of the broad offensive strategy to divide the biggest province of the ANC and ultimately defeat the objectives of the National Democratic Revolution.
“The PEC believes that all of us must look beyond what is seemingly a simple matter of deliberately telling falsehoods about the occurrence of known events and take time to analyse not just the pride and bravery with which lies are told but their intended political objectives,” Ntuli said.
He added that the PEC had strongly condemned the behaviour of “the few but ill-disciplined people” who were mobilised to boo the provincial leadership.
In embarrassing scenes outside the High Court in Pietermaritzburg, where Zuma was to address the crowd, Ntuli and provincial chairperson Sihle Zikalala were booed by some in the crowd clad in full ANC regalia, who labelled the two leaders sell-outs, leading to Zuma having to intervene.
Ntuli’s efforts at addressing the crowd were drowned out by relentless booing, with some calling him “Judas Iscariot” and a traitor, while Zikalala was also given the same treatment as Ntuli by some sections of the crowd.
In his intervention, Zuma gave his supporters a dressing down for their behaviour saying that their actions were being displayed at the wrong platform.
Zuma told his supporters that their act of booing the provincial leaders would likely please the ruling party’s enemies and weaken his support as he faced his arms deal-related trial.
Earlier, Ntuli remained adamant that he would be attending Zuma’s trial tomorrow despite the booing meted out to him last week.
Political Bureau