Battered Zuma back to parly Will face tough questions from opposition After his meeting with the ANC war veterans, South African president, Jacob Zuma is back in parliament today to face questions. The call for President Jacob Zuma to step down was an opinion of some of the veterans of the ANC and not the official view of the entire group.This was according to ANC veteran Wally Serote, who was among the party stalwarts who met the ANC''s national working committee, led by Zuma, yesterday.
Serote was addressing journalists after a meeting lasting more than four hours in Irene, south of Pretoria.
He said there were many issues the veterans agreed on with the ANC leadership, while some issues remained unresolved.
The ANC leadership is expected to respond officially to some of the issues raised by the veterans when they meet again before the end of next month.
This will be in response to a document tabled by the veterans at what was expected to be a tense meeting between the ANC''s leadership and the veterans, who have become among the biggest critics of Zuma.
“We never called for the president to resign as a group, some individuals did, but we never said that as a group.
“We had very robust discussions, there were difficult moments, but we will address them.
“We are guided by the president when he says we should meet again, so that by the end of December we would have addressed the issues,” added Serote.
The meeting brought together Zuma and the veterans who have laid the blame for the decline in the party''s support and instability in government at his door.
In the meanwhile President Jacob Zuma will face a tough grilling during his last question-and-answer session for the year in the National Assembly.
Zuma will answer questions in parliament today, his first appearance since he blasted the Speaker for not “protecting him” during his sessions in the National Assembly.
The president, who has not had an easy year in parliament, will answer questions on ministers Mosebenzi Zwane and Des Van Rooyen''s bids to stop the release of the State of Capture report.
“Whether he and/or his legal team instructed Zwane and/or Van Rooyen, to lodge applications to interdict the release of the public protector''s report, entitled State of Capture, due to the specified persons'' alleged relationships with the Gupta family; if not, in each case, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the reasons in each case?” Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane wants to know. Zwane will again be in the spotlight with the president also expected to answer questions on the closure of Oakbay Investments'' accounts by major banks.
United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa asks if Zuma applied his mind to the proposal of the inter-ministerial committee on the closure of the accounts, and what his decision in this regard was.
Zwane announced that Cabinet had recommended a judicial inquiry into the closure of the bank accounts, but Zuma later distanced Cabinet from the statement.
The president will also be grilled on whether government had reached an agreement with the students regarding 2017 higher education fees and the government''s position on calls for free education.
He will also give input on how government characterised its strategy going forward in the diplomatic, trade and security arenas, with reference to the annual South African Heads of Mission Conference that was held in October 2016.
During his last appearance in the National Assembly, Zuma said he was always subjected to abuse by opposition MPs.
NEWS24