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JOHANNESBURG – The ANC backed President Cyril Ramaphosa after he ordered those facing corruption charges to resign.
The party said members facing corruption charges should resign from leadership positions until their cases are finalized, in strong support for Ramaphosa.
The decision, made after a weekend meeting of his highest decision-making body, is seen as a blow to former President Jacob Zuma.
READ: Ramaphosa: ANC officials accused of corruption must step aside
Zuma had attacked his successor Ramaphosa, calling him a white puppet for saying that the ANC was now riddled with corruption.
In a statement read by Ramaphosa, the party said it “endorsed” the president’s views as a “clear articulation” of the ANC’s position.
Ramaphosa had said last week that the ANC must face the “stark reality” that it is the “number one accused” of corruption.
READ: Jacob Zuma writes a letter challenging Ramaphosa
Zuma responded by saying that Ramaphosa’s comments were “fundamentally flawed”, “insulting” and an attempt to please the country’s white minority.
The ANC said that the apparently “choreographed campaign against the president will not distract the movement from undertaking and intensifying” its fight against corruption.
“The ANC needs to draw a line in the sand between the organization and those who rob the people,” the party said, in a statement read by Ramaphosa.
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Several members of the ANC are being investigated for corruption related to the procurement of coronavirus supplies in the worst affected country on the continent.
Others face cases that date back to years before the pandemic.
At the meeting it was agreed that ANC members “who are formally accused of corruption or other serious crimes should immediately withdraw from all leadership positions in the ANC, legislatures or other government structures pending the completion of their cases. “.
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Analysts said the ANC’s backing showed that Ramaphosa was asserting his authority in a party torn by factional battles.
“The ANC president finally showed up,” said Mcebisi Ndletyana, a political scientist at the University of Johannesburg.
“He is trying to mold the ANC into exactly what he had promised when he became president,” Ndletyana told AFP.
