Zuma exit: chaos, confusion and political drama

SOUTH AFRICA - In Brief 07 Feb 2018 by Iraj Abedian

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Yesterday SA’s governing party, the ANC, was thrown into a deep blend of mixed messages, ambiguous optimism, and unprecedented actions. First there was an announcement for an emergency meeting of the ANC’s National Executive Committee (NEC), to be convened on behest of the Party’s president, Mr Cyril Ramaphosa. The emergency meeting had one item on its agenda; to recall or not to recall Zuma. As the nation was awaiting the meeting’s outcome, there came the news that the Speaker of the Parliament has postponed the 2018 State of the Nation Address (SONA) until further notice. Hot on the heel of that came a statement from President Zuma’s office to insist that the postponement of SONA was Zuma’s decision, and not that of the parliamentarians. In between, the opposition parties went to town claiming victory for having prevailed over the Speaker to postpone Zuma’s would-be last SONA. This postponement was the first ever since 1994’s democratic dispensation. Postponement in this context is a proxy for Zuma will never give another SONA! As speculations were mounting on how the NEC’s decision will go, and whether Zuma will accede to a possible recall resolution by the NEC, then came a late-in-the day statement from the ANC Secretary General’s announcing the cancelation of the emergency meeting of the NEC due to a “productive and fruitful” meeting between Zuma and Ramaphosa. The announcement further underscored that Ramaphosa was “happy” with the outcome of his detailed discussions with Zuma. Alongside this statement, the SA Communist Party demanded confirmation from Zuma that he was not about to dismiss Ramaphosa as the Deputy President of the country. Zuma’s office was quick ...