‘Jackson Mthembu must resign - not the NEC’

ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu has called on the ANC national executive committee (NEC) to resign. File picture: Itumeleng English

ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu has called on the ANC national executive committee (NEC) to resign. File picture: Itumeleng English

Published Oct 24, 2016

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Parliament - ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu has set the cat among the pigeons by calling on the ANC national executive committee (NEC) to resign.

The ANC made a poor showing in the polls in August, and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan is facing charges of fraud.

Mthembu said this weekend that the charges against Gordhan were politically motivated.

But the ANC Youth League and Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association shot back, calling on Mthembu to resign and to stop asking the entire NEC to go.

The ANCYL and MKMVA are known supporters of President Jacob Zuma.

The ANCYL also called on Mthembu to stop labelling Gordhan’s charges as being politically motivated.

Mthembu said earlier he had raised his concerns at the last NEC meeting. He felt that the committee had to take collective responsibility for the party’s poor showing at the polls. He said it seemed the ANC had not learnt from that as Gordhan had been charged.

“We aren't showing a change. We are factionalist. Maybe it is the right thing to do for the NEC to resign and to get other people,” he said.

“The NEC is paralysed. We need other people to take us out of this morass,” he said.

Mthembu said he had also told the ANC's national working committee (NWC) last week that the charges against Gordhan were politically motivated.

He reiterated his earlier remarks that he would support Gordhan when he was due to appear in court on November 2.

But ANCYL spokesperson Mlondi Mkhize said Mthembu was undisciplined because he had spoken outside ANC structures.

“When Jackson Mthembu says the charges are politically motivated, he must tell us who is behind those charges. The comments by Mthembu are reckless because he says our institutions are not credible. He must not (call on people on a) loudhailer to resign; he must resign,” said Mkhize.

He added that Mthembu was claiming the moral high ground and accused the ANC chief whip of political grandstanding.

“It is unfortunate Jackson Mthembu does not behave like a senior leader of the ANC. When you have issues with the ANC you must raise them internally,” he said.

Mkhize called on Mthembu to act responsibly and not discuss issues raised at the NWC publicly. There were platforms in the ANC to raise matters.

MKMVA national chairperson Kebby Maphatsoe called for Mthembu to resign.

He said Mthembu had a short memory because the ANC had taken a decision that the NEC must take collective responsibility for the poor electoral performance.

He said that if Mthembu wanted to quit, he must do so.

“If he is brave he must resign, and he must stop lobbying other members of the NEC to resign,” he said.

“He is reckless and not disciplined,” added Maphatsoe.

ANC national spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said the NEC couldn't resign en masse, even if it wanted to.

“The NEC is a national leadership of the ANC elected at national conference and is made up of 53 regions and branches,” he said.

“It is accountable to the branches.”

The ANC was preparing for its policy conference set for June next year in the build-up to the elective conference in December.

Kodwa said there were systems in the ANC and things didn't happen overnight.

“It will be extremely irresponsible for the NEC to resign without accounting to the branches.

“We are going through difficult moments as an organisation and the ANC must emerge from this crisis stronger,” Kodwa said.

Political Bureau

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