Johannesburg - The ANC national executive committee (NEC) has rejected a report by the party’s integrity committee confirming an internal investigation of NEC member Pule Mabe and recommending the resignation of Northern Cape ANC chairman John Block.
Some NEC members questioned the manner in which the report was “rushed” ahead of many other matters that the committee should be investigating.
The report was eventually rejected by members and sent back to be completed and, first, processed by the National Working Committee before being discussed at the NEC.
Several NEC members were apparently unhappy with the “incomplete report” that confirmed it was investigating Mabe.
The committee also recommended that ANC Northern Cape chairman John Block resign from his position as Northern Cape finance MEC, which further angered some NEC members as his matter is still before the courts.
Mabe has emerged as a strong candidate for the leadership of the ANC Youth League when it goes to its first elective conference since it was disbanded by the NEC last year.
However, The Sunday Independent understands that the battle for the leadership of the youth league has spilled into the leadership of its mother body as it will play a role in the ultimate succession battle of the party leading up to its 2017 elective conference.
ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa said there was nothing untoward about the report being sent back, and he disputed its recommendation that Block should resign.
“The NEC said they must report back because what they presented was a preliminary report, but they reported on all the cases they are looking at. The NEC could obviously not express a view on a preliminary report,” he said.
Kodwa questioned how a preliminary report could make such a definitive recommendation. He said the committee had given feedback on all the cases it was working on, and had not singled out any specific cases. Integrity committee chair-man, Andrew Mlangeni, refused to comment on the matter.
Several NEC members said there was a feeling that the speedy investigation of Mabe by the committee was linked to his ambitions to lead the youth league.
An NEC member sympathetic to Mabe’s campaign said the fact that the integrity committee had confirmed it was investigating Mabe was seen by many as a move to derail his campaign to lead the youth league.
“The argument is that the timing of Mabe’s being investigated by the integrity committee is very suspicious. It is casting aspersions on him when he is contesting to lead the youth league.
“The committee said it is investigating about seven cases, and that its report was not complete. What was that report then doing at the NEC when it is not complete and has not been processed by the NWC (National Working Committee) as all other reports?”
T
he NEC member said there were “people in the leadership” who did not want Mabe to lead the youth league and this was one of the tactics being employed to derail his campaign. “In the bigger scheme of things, there are people who want to determine the leadership of the league with the bigger picture being the 2017 conference.”
The committee mentioned its other investigations, including probes into NEC members Tony Yengeni, former communications minister Dina Pule and NEC member Mirriam Segabutla.
Yengeni’s matter relates to the drinking-and-driving charge he is facing in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court, while Pule was fingered by Public Protector Thuli Madonsela as having abused her office as Communications minister – a job from which she was eventually fired.
Segabutla is facing fraud charges in the Polokwane Magistrate’s Court in relation to a R15m tender.
One NEC member said the omission of other cases was suspicious, especially as some had taken place long before allegations were levelled against Mabe.
That NEC member told The Sunday Independent that the recommendation that Block resign was contradictory to the NEC’s emphasis that leaders be treated as innocent until they were proven guilty.
According to the member, who is not authorised to speak on behalf of the NEC, this emphasis was made during the NEC meeting in Nelspruit before the January 8 statement by President Jacob Zuma.
“There was an emphasis at the NEC that people should be deemed innocent until proven guilty. If not, then people can just trump up charges against ANC leaders to destabilise them and have them removed from their positions.
“If we are not careful, the integrity committee can be used to fight political battles, no matter how noble their own intentions may be,” said the member.
Some NEC members also questioned why the report had not mentioned other cases, including that of corruption-accused Free State MEC Benny Malakoane, former Eastern Cape ANC provincial executive committee member Andile Lungisa and ANC Gauteng chief whip Brian Hlongwa.
Sunday Independent