Newly-elected secretary-general Fikile Mbalula. Picture: Timothy Bernard/African News Agency(ANA)
Cape Town - The disciplinary proceedings against ANC MPs who broke rank with the party and voted for adoption of the Section 89 panel on Phala Phala will not be withdrawn.
This is according to newly-elected secretary-general Fikile Mbalula when addressing the media at his first press briefing in the position on Monday night.
Mbalula said the defiance of MPs in Parliament a week ago had been referred to the party’s disciplinary committee.
“It is a straightforward disciplinary issue. The national executive committee (NEC) was briefed about that matter, and that is where it stands and it will not be withdrawn.
“The disciplinary committee of the ANC will be seized with the matter and it will be finalised as soon as possible,” he said.
Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma was the first to vote for the report to be adopted on December 13, against the instructions of the NEC. Joining her were ANC MPs Mervyn Dirks, Supra Mahumapelo and Mosebenzi Zwane.
Thandi Mahambehlala initially stated the ‘party line’ when asked to cast her ballot during the roll call voting, and then said “yes” when asked again. She later stated that she was voting against the report when MPs were asked to correct their vote.
However, re-elected national chairperson Gwede Mantashe said that even MPs who stayed away from the special sitting when the National Assembly voted against the Section 89 report were in hot water.
“Everybody who voted against the party line, five of them, and a number who opted not to come – all those people ... the new NEC will have to interrogate their behaviour,” Mantashe said. “The outcome of that process can’t be determined prematurely, but they must be interrogated.
They voted against the party in public,” he said. Mantashe said so-called “ conscious voting” was actually a fallacy.
“We are all in a party political system. Everybody in that Parliament did not contest a constituency,” he said. Mantashe argued that ANC MPs could be “free agents” when colleagues from other political parties toed their parties’ line.
“You comply with discussions, and you must be part of discussions and actually abide by the results of that process. There is no such party political system that allows people to be free agents,” he added.
Mantashe and Mbalula’s comments came against the backdrop of the national conference failing to discuss the integrity committee’s report on the Phala Phala saga.
The report was part of the organisational report presented to the plenary in a closed session by former ANC deputy president David Mabuza.
“Should there be any developments in relation to that we will communicate accordingly. At the present moment there has not been anything about Phala Phala,” Mbalula said.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has taken the Section 89 report on judicial review at the Constitutional Court.
Mantashe told the SABC on Tuesday he believed that processes should be respected.
“When people are involved in a process, you don’t stifle their rights.
The president has a right as a citizen and an individual to review the report if he is not happy about it,” he said.
Mantashe said the outcome of the court process would determine the future.
Cape Times