Mec members visit provinces

The ANC was hard at work at the weekend trying to stem the tide of protests over the axing of former deputy president Jacob Zuma.

In KwaZulu-Natal, well-placed ANC sources said that in the face of mounting displays of support for the axed deputy president, Zuma would be brought to the province to calm angry youths, such as those who pelted premier and Mbeki ally S'bu Ndebele with stones and fruit at a youth day rally in KwaMashu, Durban, last week.

ANC spokesman Smuts Ngonyama said a host of national executive committee (NEC) members had fanned out across the country, visiting the provinces in a bid to restore calm.

He said NEC members had been asked to "explain to the people the reasons behind the decision (to fire Zuma)". The NEC members attended ANC provincial general council and executive committee meetings at the weekend. More are to be held this week.

"They need to give information because some people don't watch... television. It is important to keep people informed."

Mbeki arrives back from Nigeria today. He will see Zuma at the ANC national working committee meeting today, at which a decision is to be taken on who is to replace Zuma as head of the ANC's political committee at parliament.

It is believed the question of a possible ANC salary for Zuma is also on the agenda. ANC deputy secretary-general Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele said yesterday the ANC was speaking to its "sources" to see if there was a way the party could help with Zuma's upkeep.

Speculation was rife that the president could announce the name of his new deputy and a cabinet shuffle this week, but he may wait until after the party's national general council meeting, which begins next week.

Meanwhile, in what has been described as a blow to Mpumalanga's pro-Zuma camp, provincial premier Thabang Makwetla has won the chairmanship of the ANC with a landslide majority.

Makwetla beat the incumbent, Fish Mahlalela, whose constituency, claiming that the delegates list was not credible, disrupted the provincial conference on Saturday.

After disruptions and a temporary abandonment of the conference, delegates stayed on late at night to vote for the new provincial executive committee's top five officials. Voting ended early yesterday.

Mahlalela, who had been blamed for instability and stagnancy in provincial structures, was nominated from the floor in a gesture of rebellion when it seemed Makwetla would be elected unanimously.

A victory for Mahlalela would have been seen as a triumph for the pro-Zuma camp.

At a National Youth Day rally at which Zuma spoke, supporters of the ANC deputy president chanted "Down with Mbeki".

Makwetla, however, played down the tensions over the Zuma issue, saying the Youth Day protesters were not necessarily Mpumalanga people but ANC Youth League supporters.

"It is incorrect to say (the protest) reflected what was happening within the ANC," he said.

"It was not a rally of ANC branches in Mpumalanga, it was a June 16 rally organised by the youth league. It has absolutely nothing to do with the feelings of the ANC in the province. The province is fully united (around) the decision the president has taken."

ANC sources in KwaZulu-Natal said yesterday the party's provincial general council had decided to invite Zuma to the province with a view to "calming angry Zuma supporters".

In a statement released after the council met, spokesman Mtholephi Mthimkhulu confirmed that it had resolved to invite Zuma to the Freedom Charter celebrations to be held in Umlazi, Durban, on Sunday.

Mthimkhulu said, however, Zuma was not being invited to "calm" angry youths but for the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Charter.

The ANC provincial general council also adopted resolutions supporting Mbeki and Zuma and Mbeki's decision to release his deputy, and calling for a "judicious and independent mechanism" to allow Zuma to give his side of the story.

With acknowledgements to Moshoeshoe Monare, Sipho Khumalo, Sheena Adams and the Cape Times .