ANC members relied on hearsay and did not have full information at hand when they demanded the return of Jacob Zuma to party duties, says the organisation’s deputy secretary-general Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele.

Zuma, who had been sacked as deputy president of the country by President Thabo Mbeki, had also asked to be relieved of his party duties. This followed a decision by the National Prosecuting Authority to bring corruption charges against him.

But delegates at last week’s national general council (NGC) refused to accept this and passed a resolution that Zuma be returned to all his party positions.

Mthembi-Mahanyele, in an interview with the Sunday Times, described the Zuma discussion at the council as “very difficult”.

“These things happened very fast,” said Mthembi-Mahanyele. “My conclusion is that most of the delegates had not gone through the texts: the President’s text, the deputy president’s text in Parliament.”

Delegates at the council said they were angry over what they saw as the unfair manner in which they believed Zuma had been treated. In what appeared to be a direct challenge to Mbeki, they took the resolution that Zuma be returned to all his party positions.

Seven out of nine ANC provinces refused to believe that Zuma had voluntarily withdrawn from party duties. They said he had been pushed. There was even a decision to explore the possibility of turning his position at ANC headquarters into a paid, full-time job.

Mthembi-Mahanyele said Zuma asked to be excused from his positions. “I was in both meetings,” she said.

“The NGC has taken a decision to say he must come back, but it should also be understood within the context of management of his time because we don’t know how much time the case will require from him. He needs to do consultations with lawyers.”

Mbeki, emerging from the NGC last weekend, bowed to pressure and urged ANC members to protect the image of Zuma and the party.

Mbeki said the NGC had “correctly” expressed its support for Zuma “during these trying and painful times”.

“I would appeal to all our members that while we await the outcome of these processes, we must conduct ourselves in a dignified manner befitting members of the ANC and consistent with the traditions of a movement that our people not only respect but genuinely love and admire.”

Mbeki’s appeal underlined the degree of turmoil within the ANC, sparked by Zuma’s axing and the impending trial.

“We were invited to Cape Town by the President of the country before he made his announcement on his decision, as informed and motivated by the requirements of the Constitution of the country,” according to Mthembi-Mahanyele.

“We had among us officials of the alliance, Cosatu and the [South African Communist] party, chairpersons and secretaries of all the nine provinces, and we had members of the national working committee [NWC], members of the national executive committee [NEC].

“It was at short notice. We all converged in Cape Town and we were given an opportunity to get a sense of how the head of state was looking at the matter and what the constitutional requirements were, and that afternoon he made his announcement [to fire Zuma]”.

According to Mthembi-Mahanyele, there was an expectation that ANC representatives, leaders of the alliance and the provincial secretaries and chairs would be able to go back to their constituencies and report.

“But not all of them had that opportunity. That is why communication didn’t reach as many people as possible.”

She says that “the NGC discussion documents were also elaborate and issues raised in them were demanding”.

Did the ANC’s handling of the Zuma affair backfire on the party bosses?

Rather than viewing negatively the manner in which the Zuma affair had affected the party, Mthembi-Mahanyele says “we need to get down to the basics of what we understand as the principles and the morality and the values of the ANC and therefore the decisions we will be taking will be informed by that history”.

She said issues like Zuma’s axing and the countrywide community protests over lack of delivery had emphasised the need for a clear distinction between the state and the party.

“We have to make sure that we separate government from the party so that you have a situation where, when things get out of hand [as they have at local government level] you have a structure that’s going to help you address the issues ... so people have to separate between the two.”

Ahead of its crucial 2007 national conference, the party now has to return to the drawing board regarding its policy reviews, some of which were rejected by the council.

One of the proposals that did not sit well with delegates was the organisational redesign of the ANC which, among other things, sought to create the party’s “electoral commission” to manage party elections. It would also have given ANC leadership space to influence the election of leaders at provincial level. The council also sought to reverse the 1997 Mafikeng resolutions which gave extensive powers, such as the appointment of premiers and mayors, to the party president.

However, according to Mthembi-Mahanyele, delegates decided, after discussing this issue, that the President should be left with the power and authority to appoint his executive and the premiers. She said people who wanted to talk about the matter “were allowed to talk about it; it just became part of the discussion”.

“When someone says there was no time to discuss the organisational redesign document, that is not a rejection,” she says, emphasising that “it was not a revolt against centralised decision making”.

She denies what many delegates described as a lack of collective leadership in the ANC.

“That is not true at all. Let’s take the issue of Zimbabwe for example. The issue of Zimbabwe had been with us for quite some time. We had discussed it in the NEC and people were putting across their own point of view, including leaders of the alliance. They’ve got their conscious way of looking at the issue and the ANC has its own way of looking at the issue. Within the ANC there are different views on that matter. But you table all the issues and say which one makes sense and which one is reasonable and relevant and falls within the framework of how the ANC understands the politics of the day, both domestic and internationally.

The ANC, says Mthembi-Mahanyele, will continue to discuss the policy proposals. “We’ll use the same system, we’ll go back to the branches and say there are outstanding issues that need answers, what do you say? Because, it is easy for people to criticise but it is different when you involve them in finding answers.”

With acknowledgements to Charmeela Bhagowat and the Sunday Times.