Khusela Diko challenges ANC instruction to step aside, says she will appeal DC decision

Suspended presidency spokesperson Khusela Diko File picture: Twitter/@MYANC

Suspended presidency spokesperson Khusela Diko File picture: Twitter/@MYANC

Published Apr 21, 2021

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Durban - Suspended presidential spokesperson Khusela Diko has hit back at the provincial executive committee (PEC) of the Gauteng ANC for saying she should step aside until the SIU (Special Investigating Unit) winds up its investigation over a dubious PPE tender.

In a statement issued by Diko’s lawyers on Wednesday morning, she said she was taken aback by media utterances by Jacob Khawe, the provincial secretary, that she should step aside after she was found guilty by the provincial disciplinary committee (PDC).

Diko was charged with “engaging in any unethical or immoral conduct… and behaving in a manner or making utterances which brings or could bring or has that potential to bring or as a consequence thereof brings ANC into disrepute”.

The charges emanate from findings that in July last year her late husband, Inkosi Thandisizwe Diko of the Bhacas, illegally scored a R125 million personal protective equipment (PPE) tender with the Gauteng department of health.

Her lawyers said after the PDC sentenced her, she indicated that she intends to appeal its decision using all constitutional means.

“The PDC’s findings in this matter are wholly irrational and if left unchallenged, will set a devastating precedent according to which members would be expected to be conversant and to comply with rules that do not currently exist, which include a directive to disclose a spouse’s business interests to the Provincial Office Bearers of the ANC.

’’Accordingly, she will be exercising her rights to review/appeal the factual, substantial, and procedural findings of the PDC in terms of Rule 25.35 and 25.36 of the ANC Constitution within the time frames prescribed by the Constitution,” her lawyers quoted a letter they wrote to the ANC in Gauteng.

Diko’s lawyers argued the PDC erred in its ruling because the ANC constitution does not say anything about its leaders disclosing their spouse’s business interests.

“Nowhere in the decision of the PDC is a rule quoted or relied upon that places a responsibility on a member of the ANC to disclose a spouse’s business interest to the PEC or the Provincial Office Bearers.

“It was admitted by both the ANC witnesses as well as the PDC itself that no such rule or practice exists and therefore the ruling consists of nothing more than their own beliefs and opinions on what they think ’should’ have been done in the circumstances, which opinions do not amount to the Rules of the ANC.

“Comrade Diko therefore cannot be charged and sanctioned on the basis of what another member of the ANC believes she should have done,” the lawyers argued.

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