Editorial: Jacob Zuma is put on notice by his own party

30 November 2016 - 02:00 By The Times Editorial
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As President Jacob Zuma flew off to Cuba yesterday, he would have known he'd survived another battle but was slowly losing the war.

The events of the past weekend, during which ANC National Executive Committee members - led by some who serve in Zuma's cabinet - called on the president to step down, are proof that he is losing his grip on power.

Once a fortress for the embattled president, the NEC is now contested terrain where even those whose jobs are dependent on Zuma are openly rebelling against him.

Zuma has survived so many attempts to have him removed from office that some may be tempted to say there was nothing extraordinary about the motion of no confidence debated by ANC leaders at the weekend. But they would be mistaken.

Never before has Zuma faced a rebellion so public and so well co-ordinated from within his own party. While a majority of NEC members decided he should continue, the three-day debate at St George's Hotel in Irene has left him deeply wounded politically.

The question now is how he might react. There is the possibility he will respond by reshuffling his cabinet, firing those ministers who openly opposed his leadership.

His supporters are already calling for the axing of the likes of Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi; Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom; Science and Technology's Naledi Pandor and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.

However, Zuma knows that such a move might be a catalyst for the kind of backlash that could force him from power.

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe has already said that the NEC will not take kindly to ministers being punished for their views.

Can Zuma risk directly taking on the NEC knowing very well that he no longer has total control? It's unlikely he will.

What is clear is that we now have a president who is on notice from his own party. Unless his faction wins at the next party conference he will not see out his term as head of state.

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