Zuma's defining moment today

SOUTH AFRICA - In Brief 12 Feb 2018 by Iraj Abedian

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Today, the fate of President Zuma is to be "finalised" at the emergency meeting of ANC's National Executive Committee (NEC)- which is the highest decision-making body of the Party. Last week, all indications were that ANC President, Cyril Ramaphosa, was making good progress in reaching an amicable arrangement with Zuma for him to resign by the weekend. However, by Saturday night it was clear that either Zuma was unwillinng to resign, or Ramaphosa was unwilling to accede to some of his demands. Whatever the true reasons, the talks stalled, Zuma's resignation did not happen, and Ramaphosa opted to convene an emergency meeting of the NEC despite the fact that he himself had cancelled the last week Thursday's NEC emergency meeting on the ground that there was no need for it! Obviously, Zuma is not going to go down without a fight. True to himself, Zuma has used every trick under the sun to create credibility crisis for Ramaphosa, both within the ANC and within the society at large. He has made promises that he knew he was not going to keep, and made Ramaphosa to make statements that cast doubts on his (Rampaphosa's) ability and even integrity. For example, last week Wednesday Ramaphosa made public statements to the effect that the Zuma issue would be resolved within 48 hours. The media and the chattering classes got very excited, and yet nothing happened. Then the Ramaphosa camp assured the nation that by the weekend, there would be final clarity on the Zuma exit plan, and yet here we are on Monday and all that we have is an emergency meeting of the NEC to "finalise" Zuma's fate. And, this is as clear as mud because even if NEC makes a decision to recall Zuma, there is no ...