POLITICS LIVE: The ANC is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Jacob Zuma Enterprises
The party's decision to allow him to proceed with a cabinet appointed 'elsewhere' proves it has given up power to the shadows
President Jacob Zuma is now more powerful than the ANC and its constitution. The moment of crisis for the party has come and gone. Zuma has prevailed and the ANC’s top leadership have been defeated. Granted, the protests against Zuma’s decision to shaft former finance minister Pravin Gordhan were muted and phrased in the vaguest of terms. The ANC’s deputy president, Cyril Ramaphosa, its secretary general, Gwede Mantashe, and its treasurer, Zweli Mkhize, all spoke out against the decision, saying it appeared that Zuma’s reshuffle ignored the ANC’s proposals in favour of a list “from somewhere else”. But, by ANC standards, such a public airing of disagreement was unprecedented. The party’s integrity commission, its allies in the SACP and Cosatu, its veterans and several other prominent members all publicly called on Zuma to quit. So there was a showdown of sorts within the ANC. Its national working committee met to decide what to do. Its decision was that Zuma had the right to do what...
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