While ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) members were flocking into the Nasrec sports centre ahead of the much-away special meeting to discuss the section 89 report into President Cyril Ramaphosa’s alleged abuse of certain sections of the constitution, the asbsence of the president’s convoy was conspicuous.
According to news reports, the president will surprisingly not attend the meeting as its agenda centres around him.
ANC NEC SPECIAL MEETING ADJOURNED https://t.co/lTmPTPv5EK
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Since members are expected to express their opinions on his suitability to remain in office, it is unclear whether his presence would pose a conflict of interest.
There is already a growing expectation that those who support the RET brigade will continue to push for his resignation or, at the very least, for him to step aside until he is cleared.
Similar to this, his supporters—whom many claim talked him out of resigning on Thursday—would be expected to defend him on the grounds that the panel’s report is not a guilty finding, as some have claimed, but rather the result of a procedure that might be reviewed by the courts, or by parliament.
The outcome of the special meeting would be intriguing, but you can be rest assured that it would be one of the most agonizing in recent times, because it would certainly pit factions against one another almost on the eve of a national elective conference.
Although it is still unknown how long the meeting would go, treasurer-general Paul Mashatile, who also serves as the party’s interim secretary-general, would be expected to deliver a summary on what would have transpired there.
One is firmly sure that Ramaphosa still holds the balance of power because, for the longest time, the majority of the NEC has supported him, with the possible exception of some who might jump ship and join the opposition seeing that the ship might be sinking.