When will Jacob Zuma go?
The new national executive committee of the ANC meets under Cyril Ramaphosa to consider its next move should President Jacob Zuma refuse to leave gracefully
President Jacob Zuma is in the political departure lounge; but how long he will languish there is the burning question. The ABC of removing a president, it could be argued, has been perfected by the governing ANC — notably in the case of former President Thabo Mbeki in 2008. But Mbeki’s removal as national president was described by Frank Chikane, an Mbeki ally, as tantamount to a "coup d’etat". This suggests that the pressure exerted by the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) on Mbeki to step down "today and not tomorrow", instead of following parliamentary processes, was unconstitutional. This view is contained in Chikane’s book, Eight Days in September. It goes into great detail about Mbeki’s "recall", which took place nine months after he lost the ANC presidency to Zuma in Polokwane in 2007. Zuma’s backers, who alongside their man have brought governance of SA to its knees, are now warning against Zuma being sacked in a similar fashion. What they know but do not say is that...
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