[This is going to be most interesting. Even more interesting is: Who will become the new Vice President!! It is my view, that despite all this whining about how much damage this will do to the ANC – that in fact, Mbeki wants Zuma to go – but he just needed the right excuse. Jan]

PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki effectively gave Deputy President Jacob Zuma three days to resign or be fired yesterday, as government and its trade union allies squared off over the political future of the embattled Zuma.

Sources close to Zuma said last night that a government statement issued by spokesman Joel Netshitenzhe was in effect an ultimatum to Zuma to step down.

The sources said, however, that the deputy president would not quit voluntarily, a move sure to plunge the ruling African National Congress (ANC) into crisis.

In a statement issued on the eve of a two-day state visit to Chile by Mbeki, and after a meeting of the ANC national working committee, Netshitenzhe said Mbeki would “communicate to the public any decisions that he will have taken” upon his return and that he had informed Zuma of this.

In stark contrast to Zuma’s supporters in the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the South African Communist Party (SACP), Netshitenzhe said that government “accepted the outcome of the (Schabir Shaik) trial” and that Mbeki was the “custodian” of the rule of law in the country.

This is a rebuke to Cosatu, the SACP’s youth wing and the ANC Youth League, which have all cast aspersions on High Court Judge Hillary Squires and questioned the legitimacy of his judgment.

Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi launched a blistering attack on the judgment yesterday, saying Shaik’s trial was “nothing but a political trial of the deputy president in absentia”.

Government’s statement came hours after Cosatu upped the ante in the battle over Zuma’s political future, challenging Mbeki and the ANC to come to Zuma’s defence.

The federation warned of “devastating consequences” for the ANC-led tripartite alliance should the ANC fail to protect Zuma, who is under pressure both within and outside the ANC to step down following last week’s conviction of Shaik, his financial adviser, for corruption and fraud.

Cosatu’s gambit comes three weeks ahead of the ANC’s national general council, at which Mbeki will be seeking buy-ins from his allies for his attempts to reorient the party’s economic policy.

The ANC is proposing a range of measures, such as a dual labour market, and will need Cosatu’s support for the reforms to pass.

Cosatu’s threat also comes amid unconfirmed reports that former president Nelson Mandela has been roped in to help smooth Zuma’s exit.

Sources said Mandela became involved at the weekend after Mbeki reportedly instructed ANC secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe to give Zuma a draft resignation letter.

The sources said Mandela’s involvement was part of an ANC strategy to involve the party’s grandees in the handling of the Zuma matter.

Pressure mounted on Zuma last night, with the South African Council of Churches sending a senior delegation to meet Zuma to “demonstrate the churches’ concern for the deputy president e(162)¢-oe as he deliberates on the implications of the Durban High Court’s judgment”.

Zuma heads government’s moral regeneration campaign and as such is expected to be more open to persuasion from his religious partners. The delegation was expected to try to convince him to do the “honourable thing” and quit to spare himself and the country further shame.

But word from Zuma’s camp is that the deputy president is adamant about standing his ground. Zuma is expected to make a statement once the sentencing of Shaik, expected today, is concluded.

Government sources said a leave of absence, suggested by some as a possible way out for Zuma, was not an option as there was no constitutional provision for it. It is also doubtful if Zuma would retain any influence andpower should he step down voluntarily, as some commentators have counselled.

Cosatu’s actions and statements so far indicate that the federation will not countenance Zuma’s resignation.

Vavi, who has thrown his weight behind Zuma’s presidential bid — he called Zuma’s bid an “unstoppable tsunami” earlier this year — said yesterday: “The manner in which the whole (Shaik) trial was run for years, and not just for the official duration, indicates a systematic campaign to assassinate the character of the deputy president.”

Vavi was speaking to the media during a briefing called by the presidents and general secretaries of Cosatu’s affiliates to address the Zuma fallout.

The Cosatu leaders said Zuma was being targeted in order to damage his chances in the ANC succession race. State resources had been misused to target a political opponent in the organisation’s increasingly messy leadership tussle. “Zuma would not have received the same kind of attention if his name was not top of the list (of succession candidates),” Vavi said.

Flanked by the federation’s leaders, Vavi said: “It would create a dangerous precedent in the future that individuals’ constitutionally guaranteed right to a fair trial would be denied in pursuance of clear political agendas and vendettas.”

Source: AllAfrica.Com
URL: http://allafrica.com/stories/200506070228.htm…/p>