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Deliberate sabotage, the unwelcome presence of President Jacob Zuma, searing heat and the lure of the beach are among many explanations hauled out to explain the embarrassing attendance at the ANC’s manifesto launch event in Port Elizabeth last week.
Eastern Cape ANC secretary Oscar Mabuyane told City Press that even before the manifesto launch kicked off, party leaders were put on high alert for possible disruptions.
“I know from the intelligence agencies that certain subjects, particularly in the Chris Hani region, were questioned by so-called people from intelligence [about a plot] to disrupt [the rally],” said Mabuyane.
He added that there was also “mobilisation” on social networks, “which was part of the anti-Zuma posture that the rally must be disrupted and people must go there and boo”.
City Press heard that among the factors that caused confusion was the deliberate misinformation concerning bus times.
“In some cases people were told, for example, to wait for the bus at 8am, but the bus driver was told to arrive at 1pm,” said an ANC insider.
“Obviously, people became angry and went back home.”
An ANC national executive committee member said misinformation about transport arrangements was a well-known strategy that had previously been used by senior ANC leaders to disrupt planning for events they wanted to fail.
But Mabuyane said it was mischievous and nonsensical to blame local ANC leaders for the turnout because “we worked ourselves flat”.
He said the province had also been in disagreement with Luthuli House over the preferred bus company because “we had the same problem with them in a number of previous events”.
But the views of the national committee prevailed, he said.
Deputy Minister of Defence and chairperson of the Umkhonto weSizwe Veterans Association Kebby Maphatsoe said the stadium looked empty because people were avoiding areas exposed to the sun.
“This is not a Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates game. ANC people cannot take the heat. It is not for the first time that we see empty spaces where the sun is too much,” said Maphatsoe.
“We accept that transport was not organised professionally,” he said, adding that the Eastern Cape would be asked to explain it at the next ANC national executive meeting.
ANC Women’s League secretary-general Meokgo Matuba said the league had no evidence of sabotage. “What we can confirm is that our members were in attendance, although the majority were ill-disciplined and left the stadium,” she said.
A compounding dynamic was a stayaway of local ANC members.
ANC members told City Press that three of the five clusters of the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality decided, after a meeting with ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte at Lillian Ngoyi Community Centre on Friday, that they would not attend.
“We engaged her on the removal of Jacob Zuma, as per findings on the Nkandla debacle. She made it obvious that there were no plans to do that,” he said.
“Any members from KwaZakhele, New Brighton and Zwide who went there on Saturday did so in their personal capacity and not as members of the clusters,” he said.
“We still love the ANC, but we do not want Zuma. If they refuse to listen to our pleas, they will have to suffer the consequences of their stubbornness.”
Reverend Xolani Tengo, a district bishop of the Combined Methodist Church of SA, speaking on behalf of the Port Elizabeth ministers’ forum, also said they disagreed with the ANC’s failure to remove the president.
“To us, it is a matter of discipline, order and the moral fibre of society. We cannot support a president of the country who refuses to do the right thing. He should step down as a sign that he has respect for the legal structures of the country, the will of the people and the Constitution that governs our country,” he said.
At the event, when Zuma took the stand to address the crowd, the stadium began emptying out.
An ANC MP and executive committee member said the truth was the reason people did not come to the stadium was because they did not want to listen to Zuma.
The senior leader said things were so bad in Port Elizabeth that during door-to-door visits before the event, some people refused to take ANC T-shirts that had Zuma’s face on them.
The ANC, he said, needed to be honest and not blame the low turnout on logistics or people going to the beach. “The reality is, they do not want Zuma, and the truth must be told to him. There is no sabotage. When we did door-to-doors, people said they were not going to listen to Zuma.”
The ANC member added that while everyone knew that Zuma fumbled and was always surrounded by scandals, it would not bode well for the party if he was removed because that would embolden the opposition.
