Book Extract

How I told Zuma he had to go

Former Mpumalanga premier and ANC treasurer-general Mathews Phosa became one of former president Jacob Zuma's biggest critics in the party. In this edited extract from his memoir, 'Witness to Power', he recalls how the two didn't speak for years. And then, days before Zuma's resignation, came the call ...

03 November 2024 - 00:00 By Mathews Phosa

In the lead-up to the ANC’s conference at Nasrec in December 2017, Cyril Ramaphosa and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma were the front-runners in the race for ANC president. As the conference drew near, Lindiwe Sisulu, Jeff Radebe and I — who had also thrown our hats into the ring — evaluated the situation. By our calculation, Dlamini-Zuma was leading Ramaphosa. As she had her ex-husband Jacob Zuma’s endorsement, we decided to throw our numbers behind Ramaphosa in the national interest...

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