Zuma presidency not up for discussion

Johannesburg - African National Congress secretary-general Gwede Mantashe has said there will be no discussions on President Jacob Zuma's position as leader of the party during their four-day National Executive Committee meeting. The gathering started in Centurion on Thursday where over four days, NEC members would analyse the party's performance in the recent local elections.

Mantashe said the only thing that would be discussed was the ANC's municipal election performance.

"We want to do a thorough analysis of the elections, but there is no item 'president'."

Included in the discussions were the formation of coalitions in municipalities where the party failed to secure a majority vote.

The Economic Freedom Fighters, which plays the role of kingmaker in key metros, has called for President Zuma to be removed from his position before it will consider any coalition talks with the ANC.

But Mantashe said such demands were issues that must be dealt with during negotiations – and not at this NEC meeting. Meanwhile, as that meeting got underway, the South African Communist Party said it believed that some people did decide how they were going to vote in last week's local elections based on how President Zuma and the ANC behaved around the Nkandla scandal.

The SACP's Alex Mashilo said was clear Nkandla was a factor in what happened in these elections.

"Our contention is that, given that as an example, the inflation of the quotes for the development that were done at the house of the president as well as the costs thereof, ordinary people do care about what happened there."

He also said voters have sent a strong message to the ANC and the tripartite alliance.

"The people have sent a strong message that we must take to heart: Do not marginalise us in your factional internal battles, and expect our support'."

The Communist Party also said that one single provincial leadership cannot be singled out for the loss of support as the party lost votes across the country.