Ramaphosa stands in for Zuma at events

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa will stand in for President Jacob Zuma at Epainette Mbeki’s funeral and some other events, the presidency said on Wednesday. On Tuesday, the presidency informed media that Zuma would also not be delivering the main address at the national youth day celebration in Kimberley on June 16, as earlier diarised.  Zuma's spokesperson Maharaj said that the president would spend June 16 working on the Sona [State of the Nation Address] and that he requested Parliament to bring forward the Sona date ... to enable him to attend the African Union summit in Equatorial Guinea on 25 to 26 June, the dates that were initially scheduled for the Sona debate. The Sona debate had been rescheduled to June 18 and 19.  Zuma was discharged from a Pretoria hospital on Sunday, June 8 after spending a night there. ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe said at the weekend that Zuma (72) went for a routine health check.  Mantashe said the ANC’s election campaign had been punishing and all senior members of the party would take time off one after another to “re-energise”. Maharaj on June 10 said Zuma was still resting and no time limit had been set on how long he would be on break.  Zuma was also not attending a three-day Cabinet lekgotla in Pretoria he was initially scheduled to lead from Tuesday. The event was being chaired by Ramaphosa. (Mail & Guardian, Johannesburg)