Another ANC MP has broken ranks with the party, saying he is going to vote against President Jacob Zuma on the motion of no confidence when it is tabled in Parliament next month.
Former Ekurhuleni mayor Mondli Gungubele told Independent Media that the ANC should have charged Zuma for his links to state capture after leaked e-mails of the Guptas’ involvement in the affairs of the state.
The ANC in Gauteng has not said what will happen to Gungubele, but yesterday he remained steadfast that he will not support Zuma in the no-confidence motion.
Gungubele also came out in support of another ANC MP, Makhosi Khoza, for speaking out and expressing her intention not to support Zuma.
Khoza is being hauled before the disciplinary committee by the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal over her remarks. She has accused the ANC of singling her out when many people in the party have spoken out against Zuma. Gungubele said Zuma had brought the ANC into disrepute and should have been charged by the party.
Former finance minister Pravin Gordhan and former tourism minister Derek Hanekom were among some MPs also expected to vote against Zuma.
“My attitude is very simple in this matter. There is a lot of information out there which requires the president to account (for) but our organisation does not make him account,” he said.
“Instead our organisation opts to shoot a fly called Makhosi Khoza.
“Makhosi is crying for help for things happening in the organisation,” he said.
Gungubele said there was a clause in the ANC that if anyone brought the organisation into disrepute they should be charged. Zuma has admitted that the Guptas are his friends and the ANC is divided because of the controversial family, he said.
The president needed to be charged and not Khoza, said Gungubele. “How then do you charge Makhosi? The ANC president cannot secure my confidence,” he said.
Asked whether he was not afraid that he could be charged, Gungubele he said he believed in the values and traditions of the ANC.
He said “when you join the ANC, you are driven by conviction” and he still believed in that conviction.
“The NEC is a legitimate structure and the decisions they are taking around the president are ill-advised and not in line with what the organisation stands for,” said Gungubele. ANC spokesman in Gauteng, Nkenke Kekana, could not be reached for comment. ANC national spokesman Zizi Kodwa was also not available.