Cyril takes Mbeki, Zuma rejection on chin

Despite public announcements by Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma that they will not campaign for the ANC, President Cyril Ramaphosa has exclusively told The Citizen that the party is continuing to discuss the stunts pulled by the two former presidents.

Last Saturday, Zuma announced he would not vote for the ANC nor campaign for it in the 2024 general elections, but would instead vote for the new uMkhonto weSizwe party.

“I cannot and will not campaign for the ANC of Ramaphosa,” Zuma said. “My conscience will not allow me to lie to the people of South Africa and to pretend that the ANC of Ramaphosa is the ANC of [Albert] Luthuli, [Oliver] Tambo or [Nelson] Mandela. It would be a betrayal to campaign for the ANC under Ramaphosa.”

ALSO READ: Zuma’s snub not what ANC needs

Mbeki said in August that unless the ANC renewed itself, he was not prepared to campaign for the party ahead of next year’s elections.

“When you say I must go campaigning next year, to tell people to vote ANC, how am I going to do that when I know very well that the branch of the ANC in this constituency is led by a criminal? It’s not possible to say vote ANC, to vote for a criminal,” Mbeki said.

Responding to a question by The Citizen on the sidelines of a briefing about the party’s meeting with a delegation of the United Ulama Council and SA Friends of Palestine yesterday at Luthuli House, Ramaphosa said: “These are matters that are under discussion and we are continuing to discuss. That’s as far as I can tell, but we are continuing to discuss.”

READ MORE: ANC’s Catch-22: Party cannot discipline Zuma as this ‘will play into his hands’

Responding to Zuma’s remarks, he said the party had noted his predecessor’s public utterances last Saturday.

“We all listened to that announcement. We have noted what he has said, what he has announced and that is as far as we are prepared to go at this point,” he said.

“Everyone in our country is free to express themselves about who they will vote for, why they will vote for them, and we have noted what former president Zuma has announced.”

Political analyst Dr Jan Venter said the deep factionalism in the ANC had extended to an extent that the party was in the process of tearing itself apart.

It would have to be a give and take if the party approached Zuma to campaign for the ANC. “I think they will go and discuss with Jacob Zuma and it is what he wants because he wants that give and take,” he said.

ALSO READ: Ramaphosa responds to Zuma’s announcement: ‘What else can I do?’

“He wants to place himself in a position of power again in the party so that he can organise for himself.

“He is almost forgotten, except in certain circles like MK, KwaZulu-Natal, and now he has succeeded in putting himself back on the front pages of newspapers.”

He said the ANC should engage with Mbeki because he represented the intellectual side of the ANC. “[Mbeki] can not only go to Jacob Zuma.

In between Jacob Zuma and Thabo Mbeki lies the future of the ANC,” added Venter.