Cape Town - ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu lost control of his caucus this week in one of the major revolts against the leader of the ANC in Parliament in recent times.
Mthembu said he did not know what led to many of his MPs dumping him at the time he needed them most, to pass a key bill in Parliament.
Despite repeated attempts to get ANC MPs to come to the chamber to vote on the Division of Revenue Amendment Bill, to pass the budget, his call was ignored.
Mthembu recently spoke out against the ANC national executive committee, calling for it to resign after the party’s poor showing in the municipal polls.
But the ANC said the NEC cannot resign en masse and it would take the national conference to elect a new leadership.
The ANC’s next conference is in December next year, where new NEC members will be voted into office for the next five years.
The backers of President Jacob Zuma called for Mthembu to resign instead of asking for the current NEC to go.
The uMkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association was even more blunt and accused Mthembu of running a parallel NEC in Parliament.
However, the events of this week signalled tensions in the ANC and that Mthembu was not in charge of the caucus.
On two consecutive days a number of ANC MPs refused to attend the compulsory sitting of the House, referred to as a three-line whip, to vote on an important bill.
Zuma’s appearance in Parliament on Wednesday is also a three-line whip where the president will face the opposition on a number of questions including the state capture report.
The EFF has already showed Zuma what to expect in the National Assembly when its MPs attempted another disruption in the National Council of Provinces sitting in East London this week.
Zuma has already said he would not tolerate abuse each time he came to Parliament.
The revolt against Mthembu showed the divisions in the ANC and how those opposed to Mthembu wanted him out. The ANC chief whip has himself said they were assured of the support of 209 MPs.
Mthembu said the ANC would not blame opposition parties for the lack of numbers as the ANC had sufficient votes in the National Assembly.
The party has 249 MPs in the National Assembly, but 40 of them were on approved leave that day leaving 209 available to vote. Instead 193 MPs voted in support of the budget, leaving Mthembu scrambling for answers and how to rescue the situation.
Political Bureau