South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma is seeking “regime change” by instigating a revolt within the ruling African National Congress to remove incumbent President Cyril Ramaphosa from office, a freedom struggle veteran charged on Wednesday.
“These (Zuma’s) actions were unacceptable,” ANC Veterans League president Snuki Zikalala said.
Responding to a letter Zuma wrote last week accusing Ramaphosa of corruption during the 2017 ANC presidency campaign, Zikalala has written his own letter blaming Zuma for attempting to instigate regime change within the ANC to remove Ramaphosa from power.
According to Zikalala, Zuma’s letter was tantamount to “factionalism as he was drawing a line in the sand” to mark a division between his and Ramaphosa’s supporters.
“Its (Zuma’s letter) obvious and naked objective is regime change in the ANC!” Zikalala said in his letter rebuking Zuma.
The veterans leader argued that Zuma’s letter was marred by falsehoods and fabrications such as the former president’s charge that Ramaphosa had concluded that the whole of ANC was a criminal organisation by calling it “accused number one” in his letter.
“It is clear that this deliberate misrepresentation of what Comrade President Ramaphosa wrote in his letter is a fraudulent attempt to mobilise the membership of the ANC to repudiate and turn against President Ramaphosa,” Zikalala said.
He added: “We must unite to defeat any attempt at effecting unconstitutional regime change in terms of the leadership of our movement.”
“As we do this, we must pose and attempt to answer the question: Whose interests would such unconstitutional regime change serve?” he said, adding that Zuma and his faction were desperately trying to “capture the ANC” via the back door.
NM/jn/APA