Johannesburg - Former ANC chief whip Stone Sizani is in trouble with the ruling party after making a sudden tumble where he claimed the ANC caucus under his leadership always wanted President Zuma to repay a portion of money spend on Nkandla.
On Friday ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe said Sizani was “in trouble for talking to the media haphazardly”.
“Actually Stone was tricked into saying things. He is in trouble now,” said Mantashe on Friday. “You never talk to the media haphazardly, they will trick you into trouble, that is an advice I will give him when I meet him.”
Read: ANC MPs rubbish Sizani’s Nkandla comments
Mantashe’s comments came soon after the ANC Parliamentary caucus also distanced itself from his views reported in the Mail & Guardian newspaper where he said the caucus “always wanted Zuma to pay a portion of Nkandla millions” in line with Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s report.
ANC caucus spokesman Moloto Mothapo said Sizani’s purported views on the Nkandla matter did not represent those of the ANC Caucus.
“The ANC in Parliament reiterates its view that the matter of Nkandla, including its handling by Parliament, is amongst the matters currently before the Constitutional Court and a judgement in this regard is pending,” he said. “We therefore await the outcome of the Concourt, which we shall implement as a sound and authoritative constitutional guide on these matters.”
Sizani reportedly distanced the ANC from Police Minister Nathi Nhleko’s report on Nkandla which found that President Zuma was not liable to pay the state back any of the R250 million spent on his private residence.
He told the Mail & Guardian that Nhleko’s report was “irrelevant” and quashed reports that ANC members in Parliament had been angered by Zuma’s admission in the court to pay back a portion of the money.
Mothapo said that Parliament did what it ought to do in line with its understanding of its Constitutional obligations on the Nkandla matter.
“All the reports that Parliament considered relating to the Nkandla matter, including the public protector's “Secure in Comfort”, are matters of national importance, and we thus believe that Parliament was within its rights to independently consider them and express a view,” he said.
Sizani will be come South Africa’s ambassador to Germany after his sudden resignation from his role in Parliament this week which has been speculated as being “dumped”.
On Friday however, Mantashe who met Sizani a week ago to tell him of his redeployment, said Sizani should “be thankful” that he has been promoted.
“The man is being deployed to a senior diplomatic posting, it’s not time to discuss concerns when you’re promoted,” he said. “Stone Sizani is asked to go and be an ambassador in a senior diplomatic posting which is a promotion to that of the chief whip by the way. And people say we are dumping him. If you dump people upward then that’s it.”
Political Bureau
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