The ANC’s very own integrity commission has reportedly asked President Jacob Zuma to step down.

The details were revealed in a report obtained by the City Press. It explained that the president turned them down, saying only he could stop the West from capturing the ANC, reports News24.

Serious.

He said that “his resignation would allow Western governments to capture the party and betray the revolution”. So a state capture by the Guptas is a better alternative?

Written by the commission and addressed to secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, the report follows meetings between Zuma and the commission which took place in December and April:

The six-page report is signed by ANC stalwart and Rivonia Trialist Andrew Mlangeni, in his capacity as the commission’s chairperson.

It is dated May 21 2017, a week before the last sitting of the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) took place, in which Zuma survived yet another attempt to have him removed through a proposal to table a motion of no confidence in him.

This was the second such attempt in the space of seven months.

The report reads:

“The president stated emphatically that he would not resign. He believed that to do so would be a betrayal of our people and of our revolution.

“When he was head of the ANC’s intelligence department, he had been advised of plots to get rid of him. Recently, he had been made aware of similar plots and threats to his security. Much of the detail that the president gave the commission was in confidence.

“The essence of the president’s refusal to resign is his belief that there exists a conspiracy by Western governments to oust him as president of the ANC and of the country. Their objective is to replace him in order to capture the ANC.

Zuma had reportedly told the commission that the crisis of the ANC could not be solely placed on his “shoulders” as he had “inherited divisions in the party, which existed under the leadership of former president Thabo Mbeki”.

The commission, of course, did not agree:

“The integrity commission does not agree with the president’s explanation. It does not accept the notion that opposition to the president can be attributed solely to a Western conspiracy. This explanation ignores the very real problems in the ANC, as evidenced by the rapid decline in support for the ANC.”

News24 has a full breakdown of the saga, here, which includes a report on Zuma’s berating of the party’s elders at the ANC’s fifth National Policy Conference this past week.

It was so bad, Mlangeni, who was seated on stage during the address, was seen walking off in the middle of the president’s onslaught.

A president that doesn’t even respect his own council? What have we gotten ourselves into?

[source:news24]