ANC NEC has the power to remove Zuma – Netshitenzhe

ANC national executive committee (NEC) member and former party political strategist Joel Netshitenzhe has suggested that the NEC could reverse the latest Cabinet reshuffle and party parliamentarians could vote to remove President Jacob Zuma.

In an article written in his personal capacity for Business Day newspaper, Netshitenzhe, who is executive director of the Mapungubwe Institute, said Zuma had defied the majority of ANC officials left in his Cabinet.

“This demonstrates a growing divergence of interests and approaches of an individual from those of the ANC.”

The ANC could call for a reversal of the more outrageous of the latest Cabinet changes and reopen the debate on Zuma’s resignation or recall, which had become a deafening public call, he said, adding that the party’s integrity committee needed to be firm and decisive.

“If all this fails and given the profundity of the implications for the movement’s 2019 electoral prospects, the ANC may want to consider allowing its MPs to vote with their consciences in a vote of no confidence. The latter, uncomfortable as it may be, is about the ANC acting in its own profound self-interest.”

The violation of what the ANC stands for by any member at any level should be combatted and that could not be interpreted as sowing disunity, he added. The call for unity could not be used to silence voices opposing the shameless violation of ANC policies and blatant disregard of the country’s interests.

Netshitenzhe questioned “some strange contortions” pertaining to nuclear procurement and condemned the court challenges to block the release of the former public protector’s State of Capture report.

“All this is in total and arrogant disregard of ANC policies and its electoral interests, let alone the cause of social transformation. These instances demonstrate a divergence between a strange coterie, on the one hand, and the ANC on the other, which is meant to be the strategic centre of power for  members.”

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