By Deon de Lange
The ANC has assured its MPs that there will be no witchhunt in parliament to flush out members who may be planning to jump ship and hop on to the Shikota express.
On Tuesday, ANC Chief Whip Nyamezeli Booi announced the appointment of five new MPs to fill vacancies left by some of those who resigned in protest after former president Thabo Mbeki was axed by his party leadership in September.
Booi said he was keeping an "open mind" to the possibility of further resignations, but dismissed rumours of an imminent mass resignation from the National Assembly as mere "media reports" that did not warrant a response.
In contrast to the ANC Youth League - which has threatened disciplinary action against any of its members caught attending the breakaway national convention in Sandton this past weekend - Booi said the ANC constitution did not prevent party members from attending such gatherings "to listen to ideas".
Nobody would be fired from the ANC for attending the convention, he confirmed.
But he warned that the party would take steps against members in the event of "clear evidence" being presented that such a person was actively involved in the rebel movement of Mosiuoa Lekota, Mbhazima Shilowa and Mluleki George.
Booi also stressed that MPs would not be prevented from leaving the ANC because it respected the right of anyone to join a political party of his or her choice.
He said he had not been officially informed of the expected resignation of former Women's League deputy president Kiki Rwexana.
He said he could only declare her seat vacant once the caucus receives a formal letter of resignation from her.
Booi said MPs were in the process of evaluating their own performance over the current parliamentary term.
A significant proportion of ANC MPs is not expected to return to parliament after the next coming election, partly due to a resolution taken at Polokwane that binds the ANC to representation at a 50/50 gender split at all levels of leadership and public representation.
Others are expected to be sidelined in the purge of pro-Mbeki personnel since Jacob Zuma took over in 2007.
Meanwhile, some of the vacancies in the National Assemblywere filled on Tuesday with the appointment of relative unknowns: Christopher Fankomo (Mpumalanga), Christin Mashishi (Limpopo), Sally Moiloa-Nqodi (Gauteng) and Freda Joan Wright (Gauteng).
Their political obscurity was reinforced by the caucus misspelling some of their names in the official media statement on Tuesday.
The latest appointments filled vacancies left by the shock resignations of former deputy-president Phumzile Mlambo-Nquka and former ministers Ronnie Kasrils (Intelligence), Sydney Mufamadi (Provincial and Local Government) and Essop Pahad (Presidency).
Tshoganetso Gasebonwe (Northern Cape) replaced former MP Tshepiso Ramphele, who was recently redeployed as a municipal manager, leaving the party with six more vacancies to fill in the National Assembly.