Cape Town - It was not disgraced former communications minister Dina Pule’s own decision to withdraw from the ANC’s National Assembly list, but that of the ANC’s integrity committee.
And the word is that Northern Cape leader John Block could face a similar fate, although a case against him has yet to be finalised. Block, who tops the Northern Cape list, is on trial for fraud and corruption.
The integrity committee, chaired by Rivonia trialist and Struggle veteran Andrew Mlangeni, lambasted Pule for bringing the party’s name “into disrepute” when it investigated her. Set up by the party after its 53rd national conference in Mangaung, the committee recommended to the party’s national working committee (NWC) that Pule be removed from the list of candidates to the National Assembly.
Pule, who featured quite high at number 70 on the list, said on Thursday that while she would remain a loyal and committed ANC member, “it is in my best interest and that of my children and family that I withdraw from the ANC list and be allowed to live my life in peace”.
But Mlangeni confirmed on Friday that the decision was made by the party, and not Pule.
He said the committee felt her name should be removed from the list “because of the things she did in the past”.
“We made a recommendation to the NWC that because of what she did, which brought disrepute to the ANC, her name should be removed.”
Mlangeni added that the ANC “cannot have such a person who has committed such things” to represent the people of South Africa.
Pule was fired after Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s probe into the appointment of service providers to do event management for the ICT Indaba in Cape Town in 2012. Madonsela found that Pule had unlawfully extended her spousal benefits to her romantic partner Phosane Mngqibisa
. - Weekend Argus