"The ruling party stood unshakably behind President Jacob Zuma on Friday, despite a damning Constitutional Court ruling on Thursday which stated that Zuma had failed to "uphold, defend and respect the Constitution" when he did not adhere to the remedial actions called for by Public Protector Thuli Madonsela.
Two years ago, Madonsela issued a report in which she stated that the millions that went into upgrading Zuma's Nkandla homestead had not all been rightfully used.
She found that some of the funds had gone into building a visitor's centre, an amphitheatre, cattle kraal, chicken run and swimming pool instead of for solely security upgrades.
Madonsela said Zuma and his family had unduly benefited from the some of the upgrades and ordered that he pay back a portion of the funds. He repeatedly refused.
On Friday, secretary-general of the ANC Gwede Mantashe stood before a room full of journalists at the party's headquarters in Johannesburg and defended Zuma, saying he was only human and was bound to make mistakes.
"We are not a party of saints, we are a party of human beings. From time to time [we] will commit mistakes," Mantashe said.
Before this Zuma had gone on live television to announce that he had accepted the court's ruling and was sorry it took so long for the Nkandla matter to reach its end.
"With hindsight, there are many matters that could have been handled differently and which should never have been allowed to drag on this long, which we deeply regret.
"The matter has caused a lot of frustration and confusion for which I apologise on my behalf and on behalf of government," Zuma said.
He said he had meant no disrespect to Madonsela and her office.
"I wish to emphasise that I never knowingly or deliberately set out to violate the Constitution which is the supreme law of the Republic," he said, adding that he would abide by the court's decision and would pay back the funds.
After Zuma's apology Mantasha fended off questions from reporters, who questioned whether the party still had full confidence in Zuma's ability to understand the Constitution and how the ANC felt about opposition parties' calls for Zuma's impeachment.
Mantashe's responses suggested that the party would continue backing Zuma and his removal was not on the cards.
"My own view is [that] opposition parties are making the call knowingly; that it is a call for the ANC to tear itself apart. When I say that, I would imagine you would have seen our previous experience.”
He was referring to the aftermath of the ousting of former president Thabo Mbeki in 2008. Mantashe said the party would not do that. He said that was an antithesis to the foundation of unity that the ANC and the country were built on.
“Opposition parties are making that call knowing that it’s a call for the ANC to tear itself apart. It would be a sick organisation that [would] take action because the main opposition party or the EFF is calling for it,” he said.
Opposition parties reacted to Zuma's apology speech with disappointment, stating that he should have done the honourable thing and stepped down."
I was shocked by a statement in Zuma's address to the Nation - which was an outright lie - namely that from the start he intended to accept the remedial actions recommended by the Public Protector in her report. He did everything in his power to get past it over a period of two years - now he is sorry he was caught out.
What is laughable is the following statement in the above report:-
""My own view is [that] opposition parties are making the call knowingly; that it is a call for the ANC to tear itself apart. When I say that, I would imagine you would have seen our previous experience.”
From reading what a huge number of comments from older-generation ANC members have said - the party has torn itself apart by the support given by the Zuma clique in the party of a scandal-ridden leader.
This is not going to wash in the minds of the middle class and upper-class voters and the story is clear - the party will suffer badly in the upcoming local government elections. One of the Tribal heads has burned an ANC T-Shirt with Zuma's picture on it and - similar to the statement made by the King of the Zulus - that his people were better off under the previous apartheid government than they are now - and said he is going to vote for the EFF in the upcoming elections. That could be seriously problematic for the ANC in Limpopo and North West Province. The constant riots in poor areas against the Government will also impact on the outcome of elections.
* The ANC has appealed to the Constitutional Court a ruling of the Appeals Court on the Al-Bashir issue and he is again in the firing line for non-compliance with the Constitution.
* The Nkandla issue is not dead - the sh!t will hit the fan when the Treasury determination of what is due will be made. A forensic audit will indicate that the scandal is much wider than the initial report and that the State in fact paid virtually the full costs of he construction of the homes at Nkandla. - not only the aspects raised by the Public Protector in her report.
* The High Court Case in the offing about the 738 criminal charges levelled against Zuma will obviously also find its way to the Constitutional Court in the final analysis.
* There are a number of other court cases involving staff being made the scapegoat for the Nkandla issue that is making its way through the Courts likely to end up with the Constitutional Court as well.
* The Public Protector report on the Gupta issue may not be completed by the time of the elections - but the results of the investigation is bound to raise the level of scandal attached to Zuma and his cronies to an amazing extent.
An earlier newspaper report on the issue contains the following statement widely believed by many in SA. Zuma has a file on each of the ANC top management and leaders with enough evidence to land them in jail if they rebel against him. Most of them are corrupt and has been made so by the example set by Zuma.