With the excuse of “security concerns” out of the way, former president Jacob Zuma will attend the ANC’s national disciplinary committee (NDC) hearing on his own on Tuesday.
This is according to Nhlamulo Ndhlela, the spokesperson for the Umkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP), who said Zuma would present himself at Luthuli House, the ANC headquarters in Johannesburg, at 10am on Tuesday.
“The MK Party confirms that president Zuma has now received yet another contradictory notice from the chairperson of the NDC of the ANC,” Ndhlela said in a statement on Sunday afternoon.
Virtual Zoom platform
“This time, the NDC purports to change the notice received less than two weeks ago inviting president Zuma to Luthuli House on May 7 and now prescribes that the hearing be held on the virtual Zoom platform.”
Ndhlela said the NDC instructed Zuma to “go to a venue that has the requisite technical equipment and a reliable supply of electricity, backed up by a generator”.
“President Zuma previously rejected the proposal of a Zoom hearing and he rejects it
again. The ANC previously accepted his rejection, hence the invitation to a physical
hearing on May 7.
“President Zuma has sought legal advice on the latest notice, and a formal response will be sent to the NDC chairperson within the next 24 hours,” Ndhlela said.
False allegations of potential violence
Ndhlela added that the MK Party also rejects the “false allegations by the ANC of Ramaphosa” of possible violence if party members showed up in large numbers to support Zuma.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula told a media briefing on Sunday that the party’s intelligence recommendations necessitated the postponement of Zuma’s hearing.
Mbalula said the ANC has established that various organisations are planning to organise sit-ins and demonstrations outside its headquarters ahead of the elections on May 29.
He said the ANC is dealing with the matter legally.
For this reason, the party was advised against holding activities that would attract huge crowds and have the potential to ignite violence.
Said Ndhela: “The MK Party and its members have demonstrated in various cities and at different courts in South Africa without a single incident of violence.
“This can only mean that any acts of violence will, therefore, come from the ANC.
“We take these threats of violence very seriously and they will be referred to the
IEC [Independent Electoral Commission] should the need arise.
“In the meantime, at the request of president Zuma, the MK Party has agreed that it will no
longer come to Luthuli House due to the ANC’s threats of violence, which could lead to a
possible repeat of the Shell House massacre or even the Marikana massacre, which was
masterminded by Cyril Ramaphosa and his white monopoly friends in mining.”
1994 Shell House massacre
The Shell House massacre took place outside Shell House at 51 Plein Street, the head office of the ANC at the time, in central Johannesburg, in the lead-up to the 1994 general elections.
On March 28 1994, about 20 000 IFP supporters marched to Shell House to express their disapproval of the elections that the IFP intended to boycott.
Nineteen IFP supporters were killed when ANC members inside the building opened fire.
At the time, ANC guards asserted that they had received a tip that IFP supporters were planning to storm the building.
