ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula has called on the news media to help the ANC locate the elusive Umkhonto weSizwe Party president Jacob Zuma.
Mbalula made the plea at the Birchwood Conference Centre in Boksburg, east of Johannesburg, where the ANC national executive committee‘s (NEC) special meeting is convening.
His call comes after days of the former liberation movement trying to get hold of Zuma without success.
The ANC is engaged in a process of reaching out to various parties with a view to forming a government following the general elections last week.
Zuma remains elusive
“It is very difficult there [MK Party] to talk to people because they will tell you that they are still waiting for ubaba [Zuma]. And ubaba akatholakali [Zuma is elusive],” said Mbalula.
“We tried to reach out. So, even if yourselves, you can be in a position to help us [to find Zuma, we would appreciate that], but the country must move ahead; the country must go on. In the next two weeks, we must elect the speaker, and we must elect the president.
“We are open to talking to the MK Party; that is not an issue for us.”
According to Mbalula, the prevailing political situation is one akin to the Codesa (Convention for a Democratic South Africa) before the democratic breakthrough in 1994.
It was a time that called for cool heads and sober minds, and that would put the interests of the country ahead of those of individual political parties.
Mbalula slammed a group of ANC members protesting outside the venue where the meeting is taking place, saying they were doing so based on misinformation.
Opposition to possible coalition with DA
The group is calling for the NEC, which is discussing various coalition options, not to consider going to bed with the DA.
It argues that the DA is the enemy of the ANC’s national democratic revolution, which is the guiding principle of the party’s approach to government.
Mbalula said there is no deal with the DA and called on ANC members to allow the NEC to discuss the options and announce the one that emerges victorious, which will be about “national unity”.
“The protest is on the basis of disinformation because the ANC has never said it is going into a coalition with the DA,” said Mbalula.
“The question of the strategic framework is going to look into the outcomes of the elections, and that outcome, as we know, does not favour the ANC, and in this instance, we are talking to everyone.
“The message is to work together. We have engaged with everybody, and we are still talking to even smaller parties because we want to bring everybody on board.
“And we have said, as the ANC, we will prioritise the people; we want a stable government.”
DA is enemy of BEE
The group said the reason for the protest is to put pressure on the NEC to reject the DA, which it deems the enemy of black economic empowerment (BEE), affirmative action, social grants, and all socialist policies of the ANC government.
Joburg ANC regional executive committee member Thuthukile Zuma, who is part of the protestors, said they would respect any decision of the NEC, even if it is against their anti-DA stance.
Is so shocking to what SG saying, which people are they prioritizing, I think they priorities their friends not people who voted for them