ANC welcomes Zuma's Nkandla apology
African National Congress secretary general Gwede Mantashe on Friday said the ANC would not allow the adverse Constitutional Court judgment against President Jacob Zuma to "tear [the] party apart".
Mantashe was addressing journalists on Friday night at the ANC's headquarters in Johannesburg after Zuma "apologised" to the nation for having breached the Constitution when he failed to heed Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's report on non-security improvements to his private residence in Nkandla in rural KwaZulu-Natal.
Zuma said he accepted the findings of the court but denied that he "knowingly" violated South Africa's highest law.
The ANC accepted Zuma's apology and said it still had full confidence in him as president.
Mantashe said calls for Zuma to step down as president came from "opposition forces" and the ANC would not allow them to bring about Zuma's demise.
"We are extremely wary of the attempts by opposition parties and some sections of our population who are eager for and encouraging the ANC to tear itself apart. This is an antithesis to the foundation of the unity that the ANC and our country is built on and will thus be uncompromisingly resisted by the ANC," Mantashe said.
He also hailed the court judgement saying that it was "a concrete expression that the systems we created to safeguard and promote our democracy were alive and strong".
Asked if Zuma had become bigger than the party, seeing that former president Thabo Mbeki was recalled for what was a seemingly lighter finding by one judge, compared to 11 judges who found on Zuma, Mantashe went on the defensive.
"Zuma is not above the ANC. He is the leader of the ANC, among other leaders," Mantashe said.