'ANC NOW CAPTURED BY CRIMINALS' - D.A.

Call on ANC members to 'jump ship'

The election of convicted fraudster Tony Yengeni to the ANC’s powerful National Working Committee (NWC) is proof that the ruling party has been taken over by criminals, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille has said. 'The outcome of the ANC;s NEC meeting confirms that it has been irreversibly captured by populists, careerists and convicted criminals. This is a party willing to sacrifice principle at the altar of power as Tony Yengeni's election to the NWC amply demonstrates.' The outcome of the recent ANC meeting, Zille said, was evidence that Jacob Zuma was now fully in control of the ruling party. 'The Zuma camp's clean sweep of the NWC and his reaffirmation as the ANC's presidential candidate means that Zuma has won the battle for the soul of the ANC,' she said. She made a call to those ANC members who found it difficult to serve under a Zuma leadership to 'jump ship.' Ms Zille said: 'The DA will now accelerate its mission to build the moderate centre (and) if necessary, we will form strategic alliances with other opposition parties as well as members of the ruling party who cannot countenance the future South Africa faces under Zuma’s ANC.'

ANC 'must reassure SA' it will not follow Kenya
Ms Zille said the ANC needed to assure South Africans it will not follow the path that has led to chaos in Kenya. 'Events in Kenya have shown us how quickly a combination of cronyism, populism and ethnic mobilisation can destroy a country’s democratic prospects,' she said in a statement issued ahead of the ruling party’s annual 'January 8' policy statement. 'The ANC needs to assure South Africans that it will not lead us down the same road.' The policy statement, which marks the anniversary of the 1912 founding of the party, is expected to be delivered by newly elected ANC president Jacob Zuma at a rally on January 12.

Fears about undermining the rule of law
Zille said that as it prepared the statement, the ANC had to be conscious of the damage that last month's Polokwane conference had done to South Africa's morale and reputation abroad. The statement should seek to allay fears that a South Africa under Zuma would not be hostage to populists in the party who appeared to have little respect for the Constitution. 'In particular, the party must distance itself from those that seek to undermine the rule of law and it must undertake to respect the outcome of Zuma's trial,' she said. 'Talk of a 'political solution' to the trial has no place in a constitutional democracy in which everyone is equal before the law and nobody is above the law.' The party should pledge to stop manipulating state institutions for the advancement of partisan political interests, and clarify the form that the media tribunal mooted at Polokwane would take. The ANC should also give an assurance that it would not reverse the economic gains the country had made since 1994. 'Interfering with the setting of interest rates and reneging on the Treasury's commitment to run a budget surplus are sure fire ways to undermine confidence in South Africa's economy,' she said