Daggers have been drawn in an increasingly bitter battle between President Cyril Ramaphosa and Jacob Zuma, with the incumbent warning his predecessor to withdraw a summons to privately prosecute him by tomorrow or face legal action.
In a letter to Zuma from the state attorney, Ramaphosa warned him of a possible punitive costs order unless he retracts.
Ramaphosa, through the state attorney, told Zuma the sole purpose was to block him from being re-elected as ANC president at the ANC’s national conference.
This comes as Ramaphosa was yesterday fighting for his political survival ahead of the delayed vote at the Nasrec Expo Centre in the south of Johannesburg.
There was high drama when it emerged that some senior leaders were trying to sway Ramaphosa stronghold provinces – North West, Limpopo and Gauteng - in favour of his challenger, former health minister Zweli Mkhize.
Gauteng provincial secretary TK Nciza was identified by many leaders the Sunday Times spoke as a ring leader.
Some delegates have however rejected this saying they will vote according to their branch mandate which mostly favoured Ramaphosa.
Dada Morero, Johannesburg regional chair, told the Sunday Times: "We're voting for Cyril in Johannesburg there's no one else. It's only the PEC that's moving that direction [Mkhize] and we're going to defy them, you can quote me on that.”
Late yesterday Limpopo deputy chairperson Florence Radzilani is said to have ordered Limpopo delegates to ditch Ramaphosa and “take the N3” – a reference to Mkhize.
The Sunday Times has seen a video where regional leaders and some PEC members of Limpopo instruct branches to ignore Radzilani’s instructions.
Voting for a new ANC president was delayed as the party experienced problems with its new membership verification system, delaying the registration of delegates.
The credentials of present delegates were adopted around 10pm last night. The credential report presented by NEC member Senzo Mchunu late on Saturday night, showed that there were a total of 4,426 voting delegates.
The legal wrangling between Ramaphosa and Zuma took centre stage
KwaZulu-Natal had the highest number of voting delegates, at 876, followed by the Eastern Cape with 657, Limpopo at 593, Gauteng with 465 and Mpumalanga coming at 369.
The delay gave lobbyists and opposing camps a chance to continue with negotiations and horse-trading at a tense and sometimes chaotic conference hall.
Mkhize’s supporters claimed they had made progress in closing the gap between the two as they had received more support from some delegates from Gauteng, Limpopo and the North West.
Ramaphosa’s supporters on the other hand remained confident the president will secure a second term.
Nominations were expected to take place late last night. But it was the legal wrangling between Ramaphosa and Zuma that took centre stage yesterday.
Through the state attorney, Ramaphosa told Zuma he was abusing legal processes in order to achieve a political objective.
The public exchange between the president and his predecessor is unprecedented in the democratic South Africa.
Even though tensions between former president Thabo Mbeki were public knowledge, Mbeki kept a low profile and stayed away when Zuma was seeking a second term.
But Zuma made a grand entrance on Friday, disrupting Ramaphosa’s delivery of his political report.
Ramaphosa told Zuma’s lawyers the sole purpose of the summons was to stop him from contesting for re-election.
Zuma attempted to institute a private prosecution against Ramaphosa over his alleged failure to adequately deal with allegations of improper conduct against Billy Downer, the prosecutor Zuma wants removed from his arms-deal trial.
The summons was served at Ramaphosa’s Johannesburg home, according to the state attorney’s papers.
It came after Ramaphosa’s political opponents, within and outside the ANC, failed to topple him in parliament over the Phala Phala report before the conference.
The state attorney has, among other defences, questioned the timing of the summons served a day before the conference.
Zuma was therefore abusing the legal processes as the state prosecutor has established that the entire prosecution was influenced by ulterior motives which were aimed at blocking Ramaphosa from contesting at the conference and not for seeking criminal justice.
The state attorney has, among other defences, questioned the timing of the summons served a day before the conference
“The purported summons were served on the president a day before the 55th national conference was due to commence,” the state prosecutor wrote.
“It is common knowledge that the president will stand for re-election as presidential candidate. It appears that the purported summons were served to halt his candidature. This is an abuse of process.”
The state attorney also argues that the summons Zuma served on Ramaphosa was riddled with “fundamental defects” and that the president was entitled to ignore it, adding it could not be used to block Ramaphosa from standing for re-election.
They argue that the law allows for a summons to be treated as invalid even without challenging it in court.
“This principle applies in this case because the lawful prosecution of the president depends upon the validity of the purported summons,” the state attorney wrote.
There had already been calls by his detractors for the party to invoke the contested “step aside” rule on Ramaphosa, based on the Section 89 report that called for an impeachment enquiry into the President.
The step-aside rule forces those who are facing criminal charges to vacate their position both in the party and/or in government.
The amended version of the rule also bars those facing charges from contesting for any position.
His political nemesis, including the suspended secretary-general Ace Magashule, said on the sidelines of the conference, that Ramaphosa must step aside.
The state attorney also called on Zuma to withdraw the summons by tomorrow, failing which they threatened to take further legal steps where they would also call for a punitive cost order against him “for the wasteful costs arising therefrom”.
“The president is entitled when coerced to present himself to a criminal prosecution on the strength of the summons to challenge them as invalid and have them declared as such.
“For present purposes, the president may not be subjected to any disadvantage or limitation of rights based on the plainly invalid summons.”
Horse-trading continued until late last night.
On Friday ANC chair Gwede Mantashe adjourned the meeting earlier than scheduled because some delegates were yet to be accredited.
A number of caucuses took place on Friday night until yesterday morning.
The Sunday Times understands that the split in the Ramaphosa grouping persisted until late yesterday as they failed to agree on the rest of the candidates.
Attempts to convince former KZN provincial secretary Mdumiseni Ntuli to make way for Fikile Mbalula had not succeeded at the time of going to print.
This group was still divided on who should become deputy president. Different groupings were still arguing for Senzo Mchunu, Ronald Lamola and Oscar Mabuyane.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.