Durban — ANC NEC member and presidential hopeful at the coming 55th ANC elective conference Dr Zweli Mkhize defended his absenteeism at the National Assembly on Wednesday when members of parliament voted for the adoption of the Section 89 panel report.
On Tuesday, the ANC caucus in Parliament used its majority to vote against the report, which found that President Cyril Ramaphosa had a case to answer following his alleged criminal activities at his Phala Phala farm, where he hid millions of undeclared foreign currency under his sofas.
Mkhize, who has publicly called for Ramaphosa to answer for his alleged crimes, said that he did not show up in Parliament because he did not want to give his competitors a reason to prevent him from contesting the ANC top position at Nasrec this weekend.
When Mkhize and Lindiwe Sisulu’s names were called during the voting in Parliament on Tuesday they were nowhere to be found and people wondered and started calling them cowards and unprincipled, but their backers, which included some ANC national executive committee members, jumped to their defence.
The members, who asked not to be named, said it would have been suicidal for the two presidential hopefuls because the plan was already hatched to immediately charge and suspend them, which would have meant that they would no longer be able to contest any position in the conference because they would have supported the report.
An ANC insider said a known Ramaphosa-aligned law firm was asked to draft National Disciplinary Committee (NDC) letters for Mkhize and Sisulu, including a suspension letter from the ANC.
He said that following Mkhize's media interviews and his hard position that Ramaphosa must be held to account, the president’s backers thought that they would “trap” Mkhize at the National Assembly during voting. The insider added that had Mkhize gone to Parliament and voted “yes” for the adoption of the report, he would have been immediately suspended for defying a party directive.
“The letters were drafted to immediately kick off the process of a rushed-up disciplinary hearing before the conference commences. The NDC members were asked to be on standby to precisely manage the Mkhize matter.
“With the conference four days away and since Ramaphosa had lost massive ground against Mkhize the last gambit was a hope that Mkhize would vote “yes”, but instead, Mkhize did not attend.
Furthermore, the insider said Mkhize's position is known and clear. He supports the Section 89 process and has called on Ramaphosa to subject himself fully to the process, adding that in his interview with professor Sipho Seepe and other radio stations, Mkhize made it clear that he supports the protection of the Constitution and the establishment of the impeachment inquiry.
“It is straightforward. Mkhize didn’t agree with the posture taken by the ANC to follow the party line and vote, as per the chairperson’s instruction. It’s an ANC process. He lost the argument based on what he coined the ‘Mafia style’ of running the ANC, and he was hoping sanity would prevail in the parliamentary caucus when the matter was discussed, but again they closed ranks. Hence, he decided to walk away and focus on other things, including his preparation for the big conference, which will decide the future of the ANC,” said Mkhize’s chief lobbyist, Simphiwe Blose.
Among the senior ANC members who have called for Ramaphosa to be impeached, Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu was also not present when her comrades voted against the adoption of the report. Sisulu was reported to have chickened out just before the voting process started.
Her spokesperson, Steve Motale, confirmed that Sisulu had to do what she did because she did not want to do something that would compromise her participation in the conference.
NEC member Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma shocked her ANC caucus when she and four ANC MPs voted in favour of the adoption of the report, defying the party’s caucus resolution not to vote in favour of the report.
Mervyn Dirks, Mosebenzi Zwane and Supra Mahumapelo also voted in favour of the report. National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula officially adjourned Tuesday’s proceedings.
“Those who have voted yes, 148 and those who have voted no, 214, and abstention, 2. Therefore, the Section 89 (subsection 1) inquiry will therefore not be proceeded with.”
Defending her decision to vote in favour of the section 89 report, Dlamini Zuma said that she had no regrets and that the ANC chairperson, Gwede Mantashe, knew her reasons.
Political analyst and senior lecturer at the University of Limpopo Dr Metji Makgoba said the ANC was littered with unprincipled career politicians.
“They can't vote against Ramaphosa. They are not in politics because they want to advance a certain ideological programme of emancipation that they believed the president has undermined. They are there because they want to feed their families. Neo-liberalism has devalued the ANC and its revolutionary spirit.
“Neo-liberal policies have turned ANC politics into a business venture that encourages personal accumulation among leaders. In its nature, neo-liberalism renders democratic processes useless and limits democracy to a tokenistic process that compounds issues of racial justice because it depends on interest group pluralism that depends on racelessness.
“Under these conditions, it is unlikely that these political termites may vote against the man. Worse, many ANC members have abandoned the traditions of the principles of black consciousness and advanced depoliticised projects that have nothing to do with the long-term emancipation of black people,” said Makgoba.
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