Several ANC national executive committee members have accused former president Jacob Zuma of attending their meeting with the intention to intimidate them.
A number of NEC members who spoke to the Sunday Times said they were unsettled by Zuma’s presence in an ANC meeting and perceived his attendance as a strategy to muzzle them from discussing him.
ANC insiders said Zuma sits in NEC meetings and makes no contribution, leading to fears that he was there to monitor discussions about him.
“He does not [contribute during discussions]. That’s what worries us. He just sits there and doesn’t open his mouth. I have never seen a man who attends a meeting where he does not contribute to the debate, but remains punctual and sits there until it ends. He sits there in the back and watches,” said an NEC member.
“It becomes awkward . . . you end up questioning, what is this guy really doing? Some people see it as some kind of intimidation of some sort,” said the insider.
Vukile Mathabela, Zuma’s spokesman, dismissed the allegations of intimidation as “hogwash”.
Read the full story in the Sunday Times.
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