We will not sacrifice Zuma for coalition - ANCYL

8 August 2016

Johannesburg - President Jacob Zuma will not be sacrificed for an African National Congress coalition with the Economic Freedom Fighters, ANCYL treasurer general Reggie Nkabinde said on Monday.

“It won’t happen. Only when I am dead. Zuma is not going anywhere. We are going to do a nice farewell for him in 2019, when he leaves government and the ANC, to say he has served us well and best,” Nkabinde told reporters in Johannesburg.

His was reacting to the EFF’s demand that it would only form a coalition with the ANC in some of the country’s metros if Zuma was axed.

Three of Gauteng’s metros were among the 27 hung municipalities in the country, where there had been no clear winners following last week’s local government elections.

Nkabinde said he was happy with Zuma’s leadership: “He is my hero; I am more than happy with him.”

\While the ANC had some introspection to do after its poor showing in the elections, Zuma was not the ANC, he said. Support for the ANC fell to below 60% nationwide, it lost Nelson Mandela Bay to the Democratic Alliance, and failed to gain an outright majority in several other metros.

Nkabinde said he did not believe the ANC had performed badly, only that it had failed to capture the metros.

“Through Zuma we have increased our numbers. People love Zuma, they fill up stadiums to listen to him,” he said.

This article first appeared on News24, see here.