Johannesburg – ANC lobby groups in Kwa-Zulu-Natal, the party’s biggest province in terms of membership, pushed the governing party’s provincial leadership to exert pressure on the organisation’s top brass to secure the release of former president Jacob Zuma, Sunday World has established.
There were fears that Zuma’s continued incarceration would lead to unprecedented electoral losses.
Senior leaders in the province told Sunday World that other regions had already expressed their dissatisfaction with how Zuma’s imprisonment was handled and demanded an immediate political solution.
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“The pressure was too much because it was not only coming from us but ordinary members of the public were also angry. ANC volunteers in key regions were threatening not to campaign. So, the province had no other alternative than to accede to the demand and engage the national leadership,” said one ANC leader.
“Comrade Zuma is a crowd puller, and the ANC needed his charisma going to the local government elections. This was one of our non-negotiable,” he added, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Facing a barrage of criticism from branch members that they were cosying up to President Cyril Ramaphosa and working with Zuma’s detractors, the party’s provincial leadership hastily engaged Luthuli House top brass on the fallout in the wake of Zuma’s arrest.
It emerged that a provincial delegation comprising chairperson Sihle Zikalala and provincial secretary Mdumiseni Ntuli called for a political solution. Musa Dladla, on the KZN north coast, was the first ANC region to come out and declare it would discourage people from voting for the ANC as a form of protest against Zuma’s arrest.
Nkosentsha Shezi, one of the fierce campaigners of #FreeZuma campaign, said there was a lot of work done behind the scenes.
“The ANC belongs to the people, so the people were saying they wanted uMsholozi released. This is a victory for us. Our next step is to use the regional elective conferences to elect a new crop of leaders who will not sell our glorious movement to the highest bidders.”
Sunday World has also established that there were fears of outbreaks of deadly violence should Zuma have died in prison. National commissioner of Correctional Services Arthur Fraser confirmed to the SABC this week that he had granted Zuma parole despite the Medical Parole Advisory Board having turned it down.
The DA has since applied to the high court in Pretoria to overturn the medical parole, while the ANC welcomed his release and wished him well.
In an affidavit filed at the Pietermaritzburg High Court, where Zuma’s corruption case was heard, his attorney of record, Mondli Thusini, argued that his imprisonment had led to a deterioration in his health. An ANC national executive committee member said he hoped Fraser’s “unilateral decision” was legally sound.
He said although Zuma’s supporters – who call themselves Radical Economic Transformation Forces – regarded his release as their victory, the move weakened their faction.
“They no longer have something to organise around because it [the group] was not based on principle,” he said. Political analyst Dr Ralph Mathekga said the “Zumaphoria” was going to save the ANC from an embarrassing defeat at the local polls in KZN. Mathekga was, however, quick to warn that it was disturbing that the party had to rely on a cult personality to win elections.
“This is a problematic development. What moral principle are we setting? It is disturbing that the ruling party needed somebody like Zuma to save it from suffering crushing defeat at the polls,” said Mathekga.
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