Publication: Sunday Argus Issued: Date: 2005-10-16 Reporter: Christelle Terreblanche

With Nine Months until Trial, ANC Alliance Battles to Keep the 'Truce'

 

Publication 

Sunday Argus

Date

2005-10-16

Reporter

 Christelle Terreblanche

Web Link

www.capeargus.co.za

 

The ANC faces months of crisis management as it battles to keep the tripartite alliance united in the face of breaches of a flimsy "truce" over the Jacob Zuma affair.

The corruption trial of the former deputy president has caused serious division in the ranks of the ANC-SA Communist Party-Congress of SA Trade Unions alliance.

Insiders acknowledged a breakdown of efforts to present a united front, but officials have started to downplay embarrassing events around Zuma's court appearance on corruption charges.

President Thabo Mbeki was once again humiliated outside the Durban magistrates court this week when Zuma supporters burned T-shirts bearing the president's picture.

Outside court Zuma himself made remarks which most observers believe were in violation of the September "truce" agreement between ANC alliance partners.

Zuma compared his impending trial with his apartheid experiences. This has been interpreted as questioning the court's legitimacy.

Although both the ANC and cabinet condemned the breaches of the September compromise agreement, the events were mostly put down to the work of a small group of defiant Zuma supporters. But observers are adamant that they represent a large crack in the united front. Some believe Zuma is engaging in brinkmanship to attain a pardon deal.

With nine months before the trial starts, analysts believe the ruling party has no alternative but to keep a now "tattered truce" in place through crisis management.

Commentator Professor Adam Habib expected more unraveling of the alliance once the trial started in mid-2006, just over a year before the election of the next ANC president.

"You will see in the next couple of days a campaign by the ANC's leadership of papering over the cracks (because) for the ANC there is not much of a solution except to keep the agreement in place, unless they decide on open warfare."

Alliance insiders fear a breakdown in the talks between Mbeki and Zuma, aimed at finalising a compromise agreement to keep the peace.

Others were holding onto vague rumours of a political deal in the making to allow for the charges against Zuma to be dropped in return for his withdrawal from the ANC presidency race.

Habib said even if there was a "deal" to drop charges, Zuma and his supporters were clearly "not in the market for a presidential pardon, but an absolution".

"What is at stake is Zuma's credibility and only the courts can provide that," he said.

The ANC's alliance partners, which have thrown their weight behind Zuma, want the charges dropped and his reinstatement as deputy president of the country.