Limpopo ANC branches say new leader needed

“We need a leader who would not steal from his own people. We need a leader who would have the interests of his own people at heart”.

Woes continue to pile up for President Jacob Zuma with more branches of the ruling ANC calling for him to do the honourable thing and resign.

The ANC Harry Gwala branch in Gauteng yesterday added its voice to numerous calls for Zuma to step down.

“We are unshaken and sober minded that Zuma must go,” said branch secretary Ian Nonkumbi.

“We want to inherit an ANC that we will be proud of.” Nonkumbi lashed out at the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) members, accusing them of taking decisions along factional lines and inconsistency.

“Former Northern Cape ANC chairperson John Block was found guilty by the court and he immediately resigned from the party and his provincial government position,” he said.

FILE PICTURE: President Jacob Zuma. Picture: Siyabulela Duda

“Western Cape ANC chairperson Marius Fransman had been suspended based on certain allegations.”

Nonkumbi said what they were fighting for was consistency in the ANC. He added that Zuma was compromising the core values of the ANC and had brought the party into disrepute.

This latest development follows the stance taken by Sefako Makgatho branch in Gauteng that Zuma must go.

The branch, in the Greater Johannesburg region, wrote a letter to ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe this week calling on the NEC to request Zuma to resign as ANC leader and president of the country.

The branches appear to be operating with the full blessing of the ANC Gauteng provincial executive committee, Sefako Makgatho branch secretary Mpulelele Vabaza said.

In Limpopo, ANC Cuito Cuanavale branch chairperson Lawrence Mapoulo told The Citizen discomfort over the Zuma saga was mounting.

Mapoulo, who is EFF leader Julius Malema’s political mentor and former Limpopo premier Cassel Mathale’s protege, said the branch had been inundated with calls from ANC members who wanted a clear political platform to discharge their views about Zuma’s leadership.

“We are meeting on Wednesday to give our disgruntled members a platform to breathe their take on Zuma and this debacle,” Mapoulo said.

A political speaker and activist, Khomotso Molokwane, said the name of Zuma sparked a row in his Mokope branch.

“We need a leader who would uphold the constitution and promote it with precision and distinction.

“We need a leader who would not steal from his own people. We need a leader who would have the interests of his own people at heart.

“But we have realised Zuma is not one of those and he must just pack his bags and go to Nkandla in peace before he leaves in pieces.”