Johannesburg – The much-anticipated meeting between former president Jacob Zuma and the ANC’s top six will take place at Luthuli House headquarters amid security concerns around his homestead in Nkandla.
KwaZulu-Natal ANC provincial secretary Mdumiseni Ntuli has confirmed the meeting, saying the former statesman had agreed to meet the party’s top brass.
“The meeting is scheduled to take place at Luthuli House in two weeks’ time. You’ll recall that the meeting was expected to sit last week Monday, but was postponed because the former president had to attend a court case in Pietermaritzburg,” he said.
Ntuli used the opportunity to dispel reports that the former president had refused to meet with the party’s top leadership.
“The former president had never expressed any displeasure with meeting and engaging with the leadership. In fact, our view as the PEC [provincial executive committee] is that Zuma must be heard and given space to raise the issues he has about the Zondo Commission.
“The Zuma matter should be handled with utmost care, with the aim of finding each other and prevent factions at all costs within the party.”
Sunday World reported last week on how Police Minister Bheki Cele had travelled to Nkandla to talk to Zuma following a security assessment.
According to the assessment, there were major concerns that Zuma’s sympathisers, who are camping outside his Nkandla homestead, posed a security threat as taxi warlords representing various taxi associations in KwaZulu-Natal had joined in to defend Zuma.
There were also fears that the taxi operators and their drivers were apparently carrying unlicenced firearms.
Meanwhile, Zuma’s son Edward has also weighed in on his father being summoned by the ANC’s top leadership. “As a family we have already made up our minds.
Mr Zuma’s future will not be determined by the top six. If they seek to convince him to appear in the commission, they must forget it.
UNxamalala maintains his decision that deputy chief justice must recuse himself,” he said.
The ANC’s top six officials are president Cyril Ramaphosa, his deputy David Mabuza, secretary-general Ace Magashule and his deputy Jesse Duarte, treasurer-general Paul Mashatile and national chairman Gwede Mantashe.
Despite the national engagements, the KwaZulu-Natal ANC leadership had also organised several meetings at the ANC’s provincial headquarters in Durban to convince Zuma to appear before Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, who is investigating allegations of state capture.
They were, however, not successful in all their attempts. Zuma has been implicated by at least 40 witnesses who claim he was the mastermind behind the state capture project.
Follow @SundayWorldZA on Twitter and @sundayworldza on Instagram, or like our Facebook Page, Sunday World, by clicking here for the latest breaking news in South Africa. To Subscribe to Sunday World, click here.
Sunday World
