Tshwarelo Hunter Mogakane
Pretoria - A petition has been launched calling on ANC branches to reject and suspend the step-aside rule on the first day of the governing party’s 55th national conference in December – a move which could pave the way for suspended secretary-general Ace Magashule, among others, to contest for top leadership positions.
The motion accused the ANC leadership, led by President Cyril Ramaphosa, of having outsourced their powers to enforce discipline within the party to state organs such as the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), the Hawks, the public protector and Special Investigating Unit (SIU).
Members of the party, including national executive committee (NEC) member Dakota Legoete, shared copies of the “step-aside rule motion” on WhatsApp groups over the weekend, urging branches to sign it.
The motion vehemently contended that the implementation of the rule has divided the ANC and threatened unity in the party, which is known for its renewal rhetoric.
“Presently formulated and recently implemented, the resolution constitutes an abdication of the ANC’s responsibility and powers, and transfers such powers and responsibility to institutions of the state, which reside outside the sphere of the ANC. This has meant that these state institutions like the NPA, the DPCI, public protector and SIU, may, for ulterior or factional purposes, be manipulated by those members of the ANC who are in control of state power, as well as powerful forces outside the ANC,” the petition read.
Drafters of the petition repeated senior ANC member Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma’s assertion that the step-aside rule was inconsistent with the constitutional statute that affords suspects an assumption of innocence until they are proven guilty in a court of law.
Dlamini Zuma told national broadcaster, SABC, that some comrades suffered prejudice after being charged and told to voluntarily step aside or face other consequences.
The rule prevents affected ANC members from standing for office or accepting nomination for positions within the party. Magashule is the most prominent figure who stands to lose should the motion be rejected in December.
Seen by some as the face of the radical economic transformation (RET) formation in the ANC, Magashule is considered the strongest contender to Ramaphosa, who has been nominated by the provincial executive structures of the ANC in four provinces.
“The skewed and inconsistent implementation of the step-aside resolution has revealed its inherent conflict with the ANC’s constitution and the (country’s) Constitution … Its implementation has gravely prejudiced comrades who have not been found guilty by any court of law or the ANC’s own disciplinary processes. By outsourcing its power in this manner, the ANC risks a real possibility that state institutions … can simply, and arbitrarily, remove any elected ANC leader whom they do not prefer. This can result in abuse of state institutions for factional party political purposes, the targeting of certain persons and the execution of selective justice – which is not justice at all,” the petition read.
The petition proposed that the rule be suspended for the purpose of the national conference or at least be held in abeyance “until it is properly amended to be in line with the constitution of the ANC and Constitution of the Republic.
“It is also proposed that until the ANC adopts a better mechanism in this regard and that those who have been excluded and prejudiced by this rule should be permitted to attend the 55th national conference and enjoy all the rights and responsibilities of all members in good standing.
“It is only this position that can truly set the tone for the renewal of the ANC. Further, it will also help alleviate the suspicion that those members of the ANC who control the levers of the state are using such powers for factional and ulterior purposes. It will thus assist the ANC to take control of, and responsibility for its own internal organisational processes.”
Prominent RET lobbyist Carl Niehaus also released a document termed “basic principles” that should guide branches as they nominate leaders for the top positions. “We do not need mafias, wheeling and dealing ‘deal makers’, and vote buyers. The ANC is not a poker game, nor a stokvel.
“The principle that the branches of the ANC must be allowed – unencumbered and without attempts to manipulate and influence them – to conclude holding their branch general meetings is sacrosanct and cannot be overemphasised. In terms of the ANC constitution, it is the ANC branches – not any other structure – that decide on their delegates for the ANC national conference, and the candidates that they want to nominate to be elected on to the ANC NEC.
Pronouncements by any other ANC structures before all ANC branches have held their BGMs and expressed their democratic will is wrong,” Niehaus wrote. Legoete and ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe did not respond to media questions sent to them this weekend.
Pretoria News