By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
A special ANC national executive committee (NEC) meeting on Monday focused mainly on the situation at Nkandla – the homestead of former president Jacob Zuma – as well as the country’s fight against the third wave of Covid-19 infections.
At a media briefing on Tuesday morning, ANC acting secretary-general Jessie Duarte said political developments and their implications over the past six days had not only resulted in mass protests against the Constitutional Court’s (ConCourt’s) 15-month contempt of court jail sentence for Zuma, but also disturbing calls for violence and even civil war.
The situation outside Nkandla also resulted in deliberate defiance of Covid-19 restrictions on gatherings and social distancing, she said.
“The NEC clearly stated that the situation in KwaZulu-Natal does not represent a popular uprising, but has been engineered from within the ranks of the ANC,” she said.
As such, the ANC NEC called for the National Working Committee’s decision to immediately disband the MKMWA and MK Council to be implemented and the establishment of an MK Veterans Unity Conference Preparatory Committee.
Duarte said the actions of MKMVA, especially in light of the 60-year anniversary of Umkhonto weSizwe as a liberation army, was “a shameful blight on this proud history”.
The actions by organisers responsible for inciting violence and defying Covid-19 protocols would also be investigated, she said. This includes members of the party shown burning ANC regalia and “other acts of ill-discipline”, which Duarte said violated the ANC’s constitution and code of conduct.
During the briefing’s question-and-answer session, Duarte said Zuma was still an elder of the ANC who “we love and respect”.
She committed to senior party members engaging in talks with Zuma about his legal plight.