WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2008-01-09 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
[No surprises here. No surprises. The only lack of unity in the ANC was President Mbeki. The rest of the ANC seems to be going back to its communist roots. Jan]
By Moshoeshoe Monare
The African National Congress has endorsed Jacob Zuma as its preferred president of the country next year, and set up a committee to probe the arms deal.
Zuma and senior ANC leaders have complained that he had been unfairly targeted, saying that the arms deal had tainted many of the ruling party’s senior leaders.
In an answering affidavit before his case was struck off the roll in 2006, Zuma said: “Honourable President (Thabo) Mbeki was, in his position as the then deputy president and member of the cabinet, very much involved in the arms deal.
| ‘The ANC is capable of rising to the occasion’ |
“He took an active interest in it. He engaged with various role players and other interested parties. He has been scurrilously accused of being party to improprieties in this regard.”
At the national executive committee (NEC) meeting on Monday, Zuma, according to ANC treasurer-general Mathews Phosa, reiterated that he had been unfairly treated in this case.
“The (ANC) president had time to really go back into it again so that new members of the NEC understand exactly where things broke down,” Phosa said, adding that “this case is very politically inspired”.
Phosa also said: “This case is not only a trial about Zuma, it goes beyond that.”
While denying that setting up the special NEC committee was an attempt to reopen issues around the contentious arms deal that have led to the criminal charges against Zuma, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said the new NEC needed to be fully informed.
| ‘He is innocent until found guilty’ |
“The NEC says before we can say should we open the arms deal or not… We need to go into the details of the arms deal.
“Because once we get the information we are in a better position to make an informed pronouncement, to take decisions and to locate this case and charges of the president within a broader context.
“So, the exercise is for the NEC as a leadership structure to have concrete information.”
He said the committee would get information from “all sources, particularly official sources of the arms deal” and report to the NEC.
The new NEC is as dominated by Zuma supporters as the previous one was by Mbeki supporters.
Phosa cautioned that “there could never be a committee of ANC with powers to subpoena anybody”.
Members of the special committee, who were also affected by the succession divide, include:
The committee would also come up with a plan of how to support Zuma during his trial, which is expected to start in August.
“We have decided that we will not just have support in a vague way and statements.
“This issue will have to be sent back to branches, regions and provinces of the ANC, so that the body of the ANC talks to this issue,” said Mantashe.
Phosa said Zuma would fight the charges “inch by inch”, but refused to be drawn into what would happen if he was convicted.
“To begin to say what do you say when he is convicted is very premature.
“The ANC is capable of rising to the occasion if such eventuality happens, but we are not even there,” he said.
Even though privately some ANC leaders wanted Motlanthe to step in if Zuma is convicted, the ANC did not want to appear to be abandoning its president on Tuesday.
“(The NEC) confirmed that the ANC president will lead the ANC election campaign as the organisation’s candidate for president of South Africa in the 2009 election,” Mantashe said.
Phosa said later: “The fact of the matter is that he is innocent until found guilty… We are not the government, we are a party.
“We are going to stand by him, he is our president, through and through.”
The NEC also blasted acting National Director of Public Prosecutions Mokotedi Mpshe and his predecessor, Bulelani Ngcuka, for pursuing unfair charges against Zuma.
However, Mantashe said the ANC was committed “to the independence of the judiciary, the rule of law, and the principle of equality before the law”.
He said: “These principles require that the institutions of state are able to fulfil their constitutional mandate without fear or favour, as it requires them to respect the rights and dignity of all individuals charged or under investigation.
“The meeting expressed its concern and grave misgivings about the timing of these charges, and the general conduct of the NPA in this case,” Mantashe said.