African National Congress (ANC) Member of Parliament, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, says she felt aggrieved after she and other members were not allowed to raise their views at last week’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting regarding the adoption of the report of the Independent Panel of Experts on the Phala Phala saga in the National Assembly.
The panel found that President Cyril Ramaphosa may have violated his oath of office. Most of the ANC Members of Parliament (MPs) voted against the adoption of the report while the majority of opposition MPs voted in favour.
Dr Dlamini-Zuma has sought to explain her reasons for voting in favour of the adoption of the report of the Independent Panel of Experts on the Phala Phala matter in the National Assembly. She says as far as she is concerned, there’s nothing wrong with the report.
“I did inform the leadership even of how I am going to vote based on that, they know it. So they were not surprised. I am telling you what happened at the meeting I didn’t speak -I was on the list. There were 20-something people who still needed to speak so you can draw your own conclusion. If they say there was a decision it means they are defining us out of that meeting and I did say to them this is wrong and you can’t give instructions based on the discussion that excluded others,” laments Dlamini-Zuma.
VIDEO: Dlamini-Zuma on voting for adoption of Section 89 Phala Phala report:
‘Something very sexist’
Dlamini-Zuma says the people that are saying that she is contesting positions of the party because of former President Jacob Zuma’s support are sexists and such statements are demeaning to millions of women in South Africa.
“There is nothing to clarify. I am an individual. I am an ANC member. I joined this ANC as a young woman. I have an independent mind as you can see over the years. Nobody controls my mind, nobody controls my views. Whoever endorses me may endorse me. I have no control over that, but it is not said in good faith. It’s people who are trying to find something wrong and it’s something very sexist.”
Governance Challenges
Dlamini-Zuma says the late former ANC president O.R. Tambo warned them that the party will experience more challenges when in government.
“We inherited the civil service in government because now the ANC is both movement but is also a governing party. Or did they warn us that it will be more difficult when we are in government than it is in the struggle? Maybe at that time, we didn’t quite understand but we can see it now.”
She has also lamented weak ANC structures ahead of the conference as some of contributing factors to the challenges the party is facing.
“I think one of the things that have gone wrong is we haven’t really ensured that those structures are still rooted in communities. But also beside the branches, the other structures. Look at the last five years we have not strengthened the structures of the movement.”
The African National Congress will hold its 55th Elective Conference starting on Friday.
The full interview with Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma:
