THE Free State Radical Economic Transformation (RET) Forces are the latest group to pledge their support to former ANC and state president Jacob Zuma in his tussle with the Zondo Commission and the Constitutional Court.
Support for Zuma has already come from the RET Forces in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng as the former president remains defiant against the Constitutional Court ruling which ordered him to appear before the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture.
Yesterday the RET Forces from the Free State province also pledged their support to both the secretary general of the governing party, Ace Magashule, and the beleaguered former ANC and state president during a march in the Free State.
The RET Forces' support comes as Zuma’s daughter Duduzile late on Tuesday posted a Tweet that suggested that the family and supporters of the former president were ready to defend him at all costs.
Taking to her Twitter account, which boasts 44 000 followers, Duduzile Zuma wrote in isiZulu: “Asiwafuni amagwala...asiwasabi amabhunu. Silindile, isango livuliwe... azishe. Sinawe @PresJGZuma #WeAreJacobZuma (We are not afraid of cowards, we are not afraid of Boers. We are waiting, the gate is opened. Let it be. We are with you @PreJGZuma)”.
Following his statement earlier this month in which he indicated that he would not follow the Constitutional Court ruling ordering him to appear the Zondo Commission, Zuma did not appear at the commission on Monday.
In a statement on Monday, Zuma accused some of the country’s judges of being corrupt and claimed that they did not deserve to sit on the bench because they had allegedly been bribed, and that they had sealed the CR17 campaign bank statements because they were covering their potentially exposed backs.
On Wednesday, Malefu Mofokeng, the co-ordinator and spokesperson for the Free State RET Forces, said in a statement that it was their constitutional right to challenge decisions made by leaders of the ANC.
“We kept quite when the NEC members publicly announced that they will vote with the opposition to remove president Zuma, we kept quite when members of the top 6 colluded with the enemy (sic),” Mofokeng said.
She added that they had“ no choice” but to rise and “once again fight for our RET leaders” and to put the ANC back on track towards the objectives of the National Democratic Revolution that they fought for and that so had many died for.
Magashule is scheduled to appear before the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on Friday where he faces 21 charges of fraud and corruption in relation to the R255 million asbestos scandal during his time as Free State premier.
Yesterday, ANC Free State spokesperson Thabo Meeko distanced the provincial structure from the march of the Free State RET Forces.
“As the ANC we have not fully understood what is that thing called RET Forces, we are condemning it in the strongest possible way because members of the ANC cannot characterise themselves outside of the ANC.
“Our call is that if those people are members of the ANC, they must desist from that. We joined the ANC voluntarily and we are obligated to continue its task of servicing the people and anything against that cannot be tolerated,” Meeko said.
ANC national spokesperson Pule Mabe was not available for comment.