AFRICA’S BEST READ SPECIAL EDITIONDecember 17 2017 @mailandguardian mg.co.za ANC NATIONAL CONFERENCE 2017 Zuma: It’s not me, it’s YOU Page 3 PHOTO: DELWYN VERASAMY 2 Mail & Guardian Special Edition December 17 2017 ANC National Conference #SLICEOFLIFE Last time I was in Soweto I was shot They took my car by the church in Rockville in 1995. In the morning, I was doing a feeding scheme for the poor and, when I fi nished, I went to the car. I put the key in the door, and the hijackers came. They didn’t even ask for the key. They just shot. Two bullets lodged in my body. One still remains in my spinal cord. I became crippled until, by the grace of God, I was healed. I’m a Salvationist. You see the church does not go with this politics. I was ordained in 1986 when I was called by God to serve the poor souls and to win souls for Christ. The Salvation Army didn’t want us in the ANC, so we joined the underground. As ministers, we conducted funeral services for our cadres who had been killed by police. We protected them. At the church kwaLanga, the soldiers didn’t want our members gathering, but I used to hide them. I sat there with the Bible on the table while they met. When the soldiers came in, I would stand and act as if I’m preaching. Then they would go. I’m disappointed in things now. Some of us didn’t manage to be delegates. I wanted to come as a non- voting delegate. I wrote letters to the SG’s [secretary general’s] offi ce, but they were not answered. They should’ve told me, then I wouldn’t have come. I came in a bus all the way from my home in Mpumalanga. It’s because we want a change that they don’t want me there. I am leading the CR17 campaign in Mpumalanga. There’s a lot of corruption, so we believe that it’s only deputy president comrade Cyril Ramaphosa who can do much better. When I came to this conference, it’s the fi rst time I came back since ‘95. — Reverend Timothy Maluleka as told to Ra’eesa Pather Photo: Oupa Nkosi The best of Twitter from day one Mail & Guardian Special Edition December 17 2017 3 ANC National Conference JZ’s swan song: You’re all to blame In his last speech, President Jacob Zuma denounced everyone but himself for South Africa’s fractured state NEWS ANALYSIS Paddy Harper & Govan Whittles resident Jacob Zuma’s final address as ANC pres- ident was more an exer- Pcise in deflection of blame than an honest assess- ment of the party’s performance under his leadership. And yet, to nearly everyone else there has been no greater divider of the ANC than Zuma himself. The conference was delayed on Saturday following a special national executive committee (NEC) meeting to deliberate on a trio of court rulings that barred regions from KwaZulu- Natal, Free State and the North West from voting at the conference. The court rulings ought to have been a ringing criticism of Zuma’s inability to effectively lead the party, or the state. The president — who appeared relaxed and confident during his address — doesn’t quite see it that way. Zuma used the political report to the ANC’s national elective con- ference in Nasrec to lash out at his enemies, and to call on the ANC’s membership to close ranks. There was plenty of blame going round: Guilt-free: President Jacob Zuma blamed slate politics, the judiciary and the media for the difficulties faced by his party and the country generally, according to Zuma, the ANC’s alli- but he also managed to endorse NDZ while patting himself on the back for manning a ‘progressive’ ANC. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy ance partners, the courts, the media and even some of the party’s own tively, and slate politics had “cost us and speaks contrary to the values, Parliamentary oversight, by which wake of various scandals, as well as members must take responsibility many good and capable comrades in principles and political programme Cabinet was held to account, he said, a judgment that he had violated his for the malaise in which the organi- whom our movement has invested of the ANC,” Zuma said. was now being abused by the oppo- constitutional duties. sation now finds itself. None of the significantly”. Zuma was also critical of the judi- sition, aided in some cases by ANC The attack on the media, too, goes blame was directed towards himself. This could be seen as a jibe at his ciary, saying that the relationship members, who must guard against back to his taking of the ANC presi- While acknowledging that the ANC deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa, who is between the three arms of state Parliament being used to entrench dency at Polokwane in 2007, when was battling with “negative tenden- challenging Dlamini-Zuma for the “needs scrutiny”. Zuma has suffered colonial and apartheid privilege. his supporters argued for a media cies” that had developed since it took ANC presidency. at the hands of the judiciary, espe- Zuma also defended the perfor- tribunal to discipline the national power in 1994, Zuma said these issues Ahead of the conference, cially recently, when cases he lost or mance of the ANC and government media. A “secrecy Bill” pushed by needed to be dealt with internally. Ramaphosa announced a “slate” of withdrew left him likely to have to under his watch, outlining the par- the Zuma administration would also Likewise, ANC members who took those who were part of his bid for the pay the costs of the cases personally. ty’s — and government’s — successes have had a chilling effect on inves- the party to court, as has recently presidency, including Science and Zuma has been involved in “law- over the past 10 years. tigative journalism, but it is now in happened in the run-up to the elec- Technology Minister Naledi Pandor fare”, mostly to defend himself The ANC remained in control of limbo, having been seen by civil soci- tive conference, needed to be disci- as his deputy. The announcement against charges of corruption, since eight provinces and several met- ety and the opposition as a subver- plined in line with the earlier deci- of Ramaphosa’s slate drew criticism the very beginning of his presidency. ropolitan councils, he said, but the sion of constitutional freedoms. sion that anyone who did so would from party central, in the form of sec- Zuma said recent judgments cre- voting patterns in the 2016 local- Recently Zuma mocked be expelled. retary general Gwede Mantashe, as ated the impression that the ANC government elections were a “stark Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Zuma also gave his former wife and well as from fellow candidate NEC had disregarded the Constitution reminder that our people are not Maimane for waving Jacques Pauw’s NEC member Nkosazana Dlamini- member Lindiwe Sisulu. for “political expediency”, and would happy with the state of the ANC”. book The President’s Keepers: Those Zuma another backhand endorse- Zuma said “ill-discipline” has make it difficult for the ANC to gov- Keeping Zuma in Power and out of ment in her bid to become ANC pres- caused ANC members to take the ern in future. any analysts have seen Prison in Parliament. Maimane was ident, saying it was “historic” and party to court or to side openly with This is a twist on the idea that vari- the ANC’s electoral making the point that Zuma had a “progressive” that the ANC had three the opposition. This has also hap- ous judgments essentially accused decline as a direct well-documented series of cases of Mresult of Zuma’s hold female candidates for president for pened in Parliament, and the party him of political expediency, espe- corruption to answer for. the first time. This, he said, was a needed to look at how to clamp down cially in the appointment of key fig- on power. During his tenure as The charges relating to the arms “milestone” for the ANC. on this. ures in government agencies such president the economy has stumbled deal and Zuma’s relationship with Zuma also praised the ANC He may have been referring to the as the public protector, and one of badly, with downgrades given by rat- Schabir Shaik — who was convicted Women’s League, which was the vote of no confidence against him, Zuma’s political tricks — turning ings agencies and a vast fall in invest- of corruption — have recently been first structure to nominate Dlamini- taken in Parliament in August, in accusations against him into claims ment and the value of the currency. reinstated after a Constitutional Zuma, for its work in preparing the which about 30 ANC MPs must have against others. His firing of the then finance min- Court judgment. ground for a woman ANC president. voted against him. They had been “We also frown upon the subjec- ister Pravin Gordhan in March was Zuma concluded with a resound- Addressing the veterans of the urged by Zuma opponents to vote tion of our internal organisational seen to have given the struggling ing call for the conference to succeed. party, who have repeatedly called with their consciences and not their matters to court processes. ANC economy a further blow. Gordhan’s “We should emerge from the confer- on him to stand down as president, party loyalty.