JOHANNESBURG: The recently shot down group called RET is alleged to be planning a Mr Zuma comeback.
Audio circulating in social media has been shared so many times with a man claiming to be from uMkhonto weSizwe and a radical economic transformation group urging members of the ANC to rally behind Mr Jacob Zuma.
Speaking in IsiZulu, the man can be heard saying as RET forces in KwaZulu-Natal, the biggest province in terms of delegations contribution to the ANC national conference, they are mobilising members to support Mr Zuma to lead the party once more.
Mr Zuma, a master tactician who survived a string of corruption scandals and harsh court judgments during his nearly nine-year presidency and six-year term as the country’s deputy president before he was fired by former president, Mr Thabo Mbeki – has been called to save the country from where it has been sold – the man is heard saying.
“Commanders and commissars, our glorious army of uMkhonto weSizwe, amaformations wonke, ANC from national, provincial, regions, and zonal levels,” the unknown man is heard saying. Listen below…
It is not clear why the man or other groupings he may be involved in would call for Mr Zuma to come and lead South Africa’s ailing economy when he contributed immensely to its problems.
Mr Zuma has also been accused of having presided over the so-called State Capture and relinquishing his constitutional duties to the fugitive and controversial family, the Guptas, during his nine-year term as the president.
His party force him to resign in 2018 after the now dubbed as a corruption buster, Mr Cyril Ramaphosa was elected with a thin margin at Nasrec in December 2017 beating Mr Zuma’s former wife.
Mr Zuma was then visited by the governing party’s officials – commonly known as the top six – at his official residence in Pretoria, where he was asked to resign.
Only hours before his resignation he sounded defiant and aggrieved during a live interview with the state broadcaster SABC. He indicated strongly that he would not resign, saying that the party’s effort to pull him from office was “unfair,” that he was being “victimized,” and that he had done nothing wrong. This led the party leaders to threaten to hold the no-confidence vote on Thursday.
In an expected address to the nation Wednesday night, Mr. Zuma said he was resigning even though he disagreed with the party’s decision ordering him to do so.
“I have therefore come to the decision to resign as president of the Republic with immediate effect, even though I disagree with the decision of the leadership of my organization,” he said at the end of a lengthy address on television.
“I have always been a disciplined member of the A.N.C,” he said at the time.