By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
An audio clip has been made public on social media on Friday, revealing what went off behind closed doors at the ANC Top 6 meeting last weekend. The secret exchange between Cyril Ramaphosa and Jacob Zuma.
The leaked recording in which Ramaphosa addresses Zuma’s feelings towards him, saying he knows the former president thinks he wants him jailed and that he regrets that Zuma sees him as a deceitful person.
“In your mind it’s possible you would say, ‘Cyril Ramaphosa has always been against me and wanted me to go to jail. He has no support for me, for my legal cases,’ and so on.
That’s possibly your view, but I’d like to say — and I don’t even want to say you should believe me — that has never been my orientation,” Ramaphosa said in the one minute 48 second clip that emerged on Friday.
“I see you as my leader, as my elder in the ANC,” said Ramaphosa.
He then makes reference to Zuma’s predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, as “another leader who has never had a supportive disposition towards me”, saying despite this, he [Ramaphosa] and Zuma did not support the decision to remove him [Mbeki] from office in September 2008.
“Comrade Thabo is one such leader. Even as a view was taken that he should be taken out of the position, I am one of those, and you as well, who said no, it should not happen this way but in the end we lost the argument.
You should remember how comrade Thabo was taken out. There were contrary voices, mine and yours and a few others’ voices, but we were overwhelmed. In this case as well as in your case, we were overwhelmed but I guess you believe I am deceitful and I am not to be trusted. I’m sorry that you see things in that way, comrade JZ,” he said.
A document leaked earlier this month which appeared to be a transcription of Zuma’s comments at last month’s meeting with the ANC’s top six leaders showed the former president had accused them of conspiring to see him jailed.
Sound bites of President Cyril Ramaphosa addressing Jacob Zuma in that top 6 meeting. Ramaphosa is very clear, he respects JZ and JZ has the wrong impression of Ramaphosa. #LeadUsMatamela pic.twitter.com/6YlsvdVMVZ
— Goolam (@goolammv) April 9, 2021
Meanwhile, ANC national spokesperson Pule Mabe said the party knew nothing about the clip.
“We would not have sanctioned the distribution of a clip purporting to a meeting that might have been had between officials and former President Zuma.”
Zuma is currently waiting to hear whether the Constitutional Court will rule that he should be jailed.