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Phosa: I don’t need Zuma’s forgiveness

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Mathews Phosa. Picture: Deaan Vivier
Mathews Phosa. Picture: Deaan Vivier

Former treasurer-general of the ANC, Mathews Phosa, has rejected President Jacob Zuma’s olive branch, saying he did not need the president’s forgiveness for calling on him to step down.

In his political report on Saturday, Zuma said he bore no grudges against his comrades who had called for him to resign.

“I prefer those who express their views than those who do not express their views. You are still my comrades,” said Zuma.

“He (Zuma) did try and say those who called on him to step down, he forgives them. I don’t think they needed forgiveness because there is nothing wrong they did in saying he must step down,” Phosa said in an interview with City Press on Sunday.

“I think they were all acting in good faith and not in malice. I am one of those who said he must step down and I don’t think I need any forgiveness from him. I don’t think any South African needs any forgiveness from him,” said Phosa.

He added that “it was a bit rich” for Zuma to approach the matter in the manner he did. ’

The only positive thing about Zuma’s statement was that he accepted comments as “freedom of speech in the party”, according to Phosa.

Phosa’s hopes to become ANC leader were dashed on the conference floor as no nomination was forthcoming.

Phosa was one of the seven presidential hopefuls who campaigned to replace Zuma as ANC president.

Phosa also criticised Zuma’s last speech as ANC president as a missed opportunity to take responsibility for some of the things that are going wrong in the country.

“The president’s speech was unfortunately portraying everybody else [as] the devil and himself, the angel.

“I didn’t feel like he was taking responsibility for corruption or state capture or any of the things which have been raised in good faith by the media, the opposition or South Africans in general. He lost an opportunity to say what he wants to do as his legacy about corruption and to say to his successor you need to deal with the following issues and outline them very clearly and boldly.”

According to Phosa, Zuma should have used the platform to give a firm and unequivocal commitment to the ANC conference, the nation and the watching world audience.

“Then, we will say ah, this is good, he is able to face his own comrades with this difficult question. Why did he duck it, I don’t know.”

The commitment would be announcing what should his successor do with state capture.

“I hoped that he would say ‘I assure you comrades I will appoint a commission of inquiry as instructed by the court within those 30 days’.”

While Phosa thought Zuma dealt very well with issues afflicting the ANC like gatekeeping, he didn’t deal with the role of money in the organisation, especially in relation to the conference.

“He didn’t deal with the issue of money seriously, because I think that’s a cancer which is eating the movement’s soul away.”

About his own campaign, Phosa said there was no downside whether he was elected or not as he ran a value-based campaign, protecting the taxpayer and the Constitution and on anti-corruption.

“I am proud of how we ran the campaign. Those values can never lose, they are universal and are in the interest of the citizens of this country.”

Phosa warned that slates were deeply entrenched in the ANC, especially in this conference, and were deeper than in Polokwane and in the Mangaung conferences.

“The differences between Nkosazana and Cyril were too sharp in the run-up to here. Very, very sharp and uncompromising … and that has reflected itself in the delegates as you see at this conference.”

He predicted that voting patterns would be of two big slates and even if the winner calls for unity, that won’t translate into reality.

His wish was for conference to come out with unified policy positions which government ministers would stick to as to ensure a stable, reliable and dependable investment destination.

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