Greene County Democrat

Tag: Jacob Zuma

  • Newswire: African National Congress faces party members demanding change

    Jacob Zuma, former President of South Africa, in green shirt, with supporters at pollical meeting in South Africa

    Dec. 18, 2023 (GIN) – The historic African National Congress, leader of the decades-old struggle against apartheid, governing party of the Republic of South Africa since 1994, is having a family feud.
     
    Deep divisions are coming out into the open as when former South African president Jacob Zuma recently declared he would not vote for the ruling ANC in national elections in 2024.
     
    “I have decided that I cannot and will not campaign for the ANC of Ramaphosa in 2024. My conscience will not allow me to lie to the people of South Africa and to pretend that the ANC of Ramaphosa is the ANC of Luthuli, Tambo and Mandela,” said Zuma, referring to previous leaders of the ANC.
     
    Zuma said he would vote for the radical new left-wing Umkhonto We Sizwe (MK) party, named after the ANC’s old armed wing, and urged all South Africans to reject the ANC.
     
    “I call on all South Africans to join me in taking the important step and to vote for the MK Party and any other progressive party which seeks total liberation,” he said.
     
    Zuma’s remarks added to a growing pile of critiques – often from former ANC officials such as ousted ANC secretary general Ace Magashule who recently announced the formation of a new party – the African Congress for Transformation (ACT).
     
    A close ally of ex-president Zuma, he was expelled from the ruling party in June for allegedly personally benefiting from money meant to be used to remove asbestos from the homes of people in the Free State province where he was the premier from 2009 to 2018. He also faces charges of corruption in a criminal case.
     
    Another breakaway was announced last month by seven opposition parties including the country’s main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, and a string of small parties who agree on what they call a Multi-Party Charter for South Africa.
     
    Support for the ANC has slowly waned over the years amid criticism that it has failed to provide basic services and ease poverty for millions of the country’s Black majority. Widespread corruption in state-owned institutions and local and national government has further eroded its popularity.
     
    Other problems include the highest levels of unemployment in the world, a failing electricity supply that’s led to regular blackouts, a broken public transport system and high violent crime rates.
     
    In an effort to bring the opposition together, a multiparty national convention was organized, led by William Gumede, founder of the Democracy Works Foundation and assoc. professor, School of Governance at the University of the Witwatersrand.
     
    Participants at the first meeting included party leaders from the Democratic Alliance, Inkatha Freedom Party, Freedom Front Plus, among others.
     
    Herman Mashaba, president of ActionSA, explained his presence at the convention.
     
    “ANC will lose its majority, and all South Africans know this, but they have never seen opposition parties putting aside differences to give them hope,” he said. “We must define this agreement with a positive vision for South Africa, not against other political parties.”
     
    Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Groenewald asked the parties to set an example by paving a way forward to help to save South Africa.
     
    “I don’t think there is anyone in South Africa who will not agree that we are not at a good point in the history of our country. There must be change,” Groenewald said.
     
    Prof William Gumede, who is chairing the discussions, encouraged party leaders to rise above egos and squabbles.
     
    “Every decision the group makes has to be in the best interest of South Africa. It has to be for the future of all of us and for those still to be born.” w/pix of J. Zuma in green shirt
     

  • Newswire: ANC could have done more to stamp out corruption in South Africa says President Ramaphosa

    Cyril Ramaphosa

    May 3, 2021 (GIN) – In riveting testimony before a South African commission investigating corruption and graft, President Cyril Ramaphosa acknowledged that the ruling ANC party did little to prevent corruption, including by his predecessor Jacob Zuma. “State capture and corruption have taken a great toll on our society and indeed on our economy as well,” Ramaphosa said. “They have eroded the values of our constitution and undermined the rule of law. If allowed to continue they would threaten the achievement of growth, development and transformation of our country.” “The governing party ‘could and should’ have done more to prevent corruption,” he admitted. The South Africa Commission on State Capture is probing allegations of graft during former president Jacob Zuma’s nine years in power, including claims that Zuma allowed businessmen close to him – brothers Atul, Ajay and Rajesh Gupta – to influence policy and win lucrative government contracts. The Guptas have also been accused of influencing the hiring and firing of ministers. Finance minister Nhlanhla Nene had resisted Zuma’s plans for the government to build expensive nuclear plants and was removed in 2015. Zuma and the Guptas have repeatedly denied the allegations against them. According to the current president, it took time for the ANC to recognize high-level corruption during the period, but that he would not try to “make excuses or to defend the indefensible”. He did not mention Zuma by name. In recent months, former president Zuma defied a court order to appear before the commission, prompting its chief investigator to seek a two-year prison sentence for contempt of court. When the country’s top court heard that case last month, Mr. Zuma again refused to appear — a move that many saw as open defiance of the country’s democratic institutions. Atul, Ajay, and Rajesh Gupta arrived from India in the 1990s and set up a small computer business before taking large stakes in uranium, gold, and coal mines. They also set up a luxury game lodge, an engineering company, a newspaper, and a 24-hour TV news station. All three brothers are reported to be billionaires in the country’s rand currency. Atul Gupta was listed by the research company, Who Owns Whom, the richest person of color in South Africa in December 2016 with 10.7 billion rands. Atul arrived in South Africa in 1993, selling shoes and computers from the trunk of his car. Rajesh and Ajay followed their brother, and in 1997 the family, which already had business interests in India, set up Sahara Computers. In 2007, new laws made it essential for big companies to have Black directors — especially if they were bidding for government contracts. Zuma’s son Duduzane began working as a 22-year-old trainee at the Guptas’  Sahara Computers, and he was quickly appointed to the boards of several Gupta companies. One of Zuma’s daughters was a director at Sahara Computers, and one of his wives worked at the Guptas’ JIC Mining Services. The corruption allegations have led to the popular use of the term “state capture” to describe the Guptas’ undue influence of private business interests over government institutions.