AS the Hawks continue a hunt for the architects of state capture, the man who allegedly allowed it to happen on his presidential watch is fighting to stay in office.
Five days before he is scheduled to deliver his State of the Nation Address (Sona) in Parliament, President Jacob Zuma is due to discuss his future at a tough meeting with the ANC’s top six, including party president Cyril Ramaphosa, tomorrow.
And while MPs finalise the process by which the president could be impeached, a date has been set for the National Assembly to consider another no confidence motion.
The groundswell of discontent with Zuma’s continued occupation of the highest office in the land grew yesterday, with some ANC structures demanding he step down immediately.
Opposition parties threatened to boycott the Sona, if Zuma was allowed to deliver the all-important speech that outlines government business for the year.
Yesterday, United Democratic Movement (UDM) leader Bantu Holomisa said opposition parties were considering a boycott of the opening of Parliament, scheduled for Thursday.
“When we meet the Speaker (Baleka Mbete), we will assure her we want South Africa’s image to be protected, but she must heed our call that we don’t want President Jacob Zuma to deliver Sona” said Holomisa. “This is a matter of principle. Investors are not coming to South Africa. We have been downgraded. We are accused of tolerating hyenas” he said.
Zuma also faced mutiny within his party, with the Limpopo ANC Veterans’ League amplifying calls by their national structure for him to step down by calling for his recall.
“We are seriously concerned about the impact comrade Zuma’s protracted stay as president of the country will have on the already frail and struggling image of the ANC and our performance in the 2019 general elections, which are just around the corner,” said Limpopo ANC Veterans’ League chairperson Jacob Marule.
Should Zuma survive this weekend, his next hurdle in clinging to power is likely to be on February 22. This is after Mbete bowed to pressure from the EFF and set that date for the motion of no confidence. The red berets had wanted the debate to happen before Sona. DA chief whip John Steenhuisen said they would write to Mbete demanding a postponement of Sona until February 21.
Parliament has been speeding through a process to establish the mechanism to impeach a president.
However, Zuma’s loyalists came out in his defence yesterday, threatening not to support the ANC in the 2019 elections should the sitting president be removed before the end of his term. The president’s backers included KwaZulu-Natal civic bodies, the National Taxi Association and Black First, Land First (BLF).
BLF spokesperson Thandiswa Yaphi said although her party did not ideologically support the ANC, it was “lately” in full support of Zuma’s “radical economic transformation” programmes such as “free education in tertiary
institutions”.
A group calling itself Amabutho e-Sizwe SamaZulu also vowed to descend with all its “warriors” on the ANC’s headquarters, Luthuli House, on Monday.
Amabutho convenor Sizwe Zuma said they hoped to invite other tribal authorities, including their respective warriors, to join them in ensuring that Zuma completed his term of office and tribal lands were not taken away by the state.
Bafana Nzuza, of the Hands Off Zuma campaign, condemned the “double-speak” against Zuma. He said Ramaphosa’s ANC had “fooled” them by creating an impression that they stood for unity within the party while harbouring intent to fire Zuma.
The Hawks, meanwhile, are poised to pounce on Zuma’s close friends, the Gupta brothers, and their associates in government and parastatals implicated in state capture. Highly placed sources familiar with the investigations said the probe was continuing.
“The law is taking its course. It’s not just the Guptas because state capture is broad. It involves executives of parastatals and cabinet ministers,” said one of these sources.
But there is suspicion that the Gupta brothers may be out of the country. Last Saturday, air flight tracking websites noted the Guptas’ learjet with the registration number, ZS-OAK, flew from Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai to New Delhi, returning to Dubai on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, former public protector Thuli Madonsela has warned that a large amount of evidence of state capture has probably been destroyed.
She was speaking at a conference titled “Beyond State Capture and Corruption” at Century City yesterday.