Zuma says Ramaphosa ignoring ANC resolutions on land and Reserve Bank
Former president Jacob Zuma has accused President Cyril Ramaphosa of intentionally avoiding the implementation of resolutions on expropriating land without compensation as well as nationalising the Reserve Bank.
This is contained in an explosive 11-page letter that Zuma on Friday penned to his successor in the ANC and government. It comes in response to a letter Ramaphosa wrote to ANC members at the weekend.
The move comes as the ANC's national executive committee will be meeting for a special sitting which could decide the future of a number of high-ranking members who stand accused of wrongdoing.
Zuma has countered Ramaphosa's letter — which was widely believed to be a pre-emptive strike ahead of the special NEC meeting — with one which rehashes disparaging views against Ramaphosa held by some in the party, including that his presidential bid was funded by so-called “white monopoly capital”.
“Mr President, your letter further pays lip-service to the resolutions of the ANC's 54th National Conference, when it [is] an actual fact our movement, under your leadership, has been avoiding implementing resolutions on land expropriation, nationalisation of the SA Reserve Bank, radical economic transformation (RET), free higher education, job creation and poverty eradication to mention but a few,” Zuma writes in his letter.
The party was set to hold its national general council — a midterm review — last month, but was derailed by the Covid-19 pandemic which made it impossible for the large gathering of delegates to meet and report back on the state of the party and its progress in implementing resolutions.
The matter of the expropriation of land without compensation, along with the nationalisation of the Bank, have a strong lobby from those who aligned themselves with Zuma during his last term. These two resolutions were expected to be a proxy war of sorts, which would have been used to put Ramaphosa in the hot seat.
“Mr President, it would be a colossal reversal of our democratic gains if you are placing the ANC as 'accused number one'. This sounds like a public relations exercise and a grand scheme that does not help to build and promote the ANC. It would be such a pity, Mr President, if under your watch, the ANC can be accused by its own leaders, instead of nurturing it,” Zuma says in reference to Ramaphosa’s letter.
“Mr President, under your watch, the tendency not to implement certain recommendations and decisions has been a worrying factor.
“For instance, a provincial conference held in the Eastern Cape in 2017 was referred to by yourself as the 'festival of chairs'. There were many accusations in the Eastern Cape. The national leadership having received reports and complaints, took a decision to establish a commission to investigate the conference,” the letter reads.
Zuma says that the recommendations of that commission were ignored by the party’s top brass.
The former president ends his letter by imploring Ramaphosa and the NEC to be “honest” in confronting the challenges faced by the ANC and the country.