Johannesburg - The “tea party” between former president Jacob Zuma and EFF leader Julius Malema gripped the nation’s attention on Friday with politicians and the media in the dark over what the tea meeting was about.
At about 12.30pm on Friday, a helicopter belonging to a company known only as V&R Holdings descended on Zuma’s homestead in Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal.
Malema was accompanied by former EFF chairperson and legal heavyweight Dali Mpofu and spokesperson Vuyani Pambo.
From Zuma’s side there was Ekurhuleni mayor Mzwandile Masina, ANC NEC member Tony Yengeni and, joining the tea later, Zuma’s daughter Duduzile.
Independent Media has learnt that ANC treasurer-general Paul Mashatile met Zuma in June last year for discussions on Zuma’s court cases, with the ANC promising to assist Zuma with the fees involved in his legal cases.
Masina and Yengeni have engaged Zuma and Malema on a possible reconciliation. Malema, who was instrumental in Zuma’s rise to power in 2007, had a fallout with Zuma when the ANC expelled him in 2012.
Independent Media is reliably informed that Masina began to negotiate a truce between Zuma and Malema in 2019. The truce party is now called the Black Team in Zuma’s younger batch of NEC supporters.
One of the Black Team’s first roles would be to mobilise for the amendment of Section 25 of the Constitution.
The Black Team, which occasionally meets at the home of NEC member Mduduzi Manana, has also resolved to deliver a youthful presidency in 2024.
The youthful presidency seems to define the forming of a new alliance with Malema as president, Floyd Shivambu as deputy president and some ANC leaders in the top leadership structure.
In another startling discovery, the new alliance would be “relooking” at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s role in the Marikana massacre of 2012.
Stirring a storm in a teacup, the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal says it wants to meet with Zuma this week to understand the basis of having a tea meeting with Malema “in the current environment”.
“It would be premature for us to have an informed view of the matter without understanding the basis of having that tea meeting in the current environment.
“We’ll be seeing him (Zuma) between now and the end of this coming week, and surely we will get to understand the context of the tea meeting and the purpose for which it was arranged,” ANC KZN provincial secretary Mdumiseni Ntuli said.
The EFF, still coy about the minutes of the tea party, have since not answered any questions.
Zuma has confirmed to Independent Media that he will not grace the Zondo Commission with his presence.
Asked about the new alliance, Zuma responded: “I am happy with the tea meeting. It was what our democracy needed.”
It is reported that Zuma and Malema resolved to meet in Joburg again in about a week’s time.
The Star