Re-elected Northern Cape African National Congress (ANC) Chairperson, Zamani Saul, has described suspended ANC Secretary-General Ace Magashule’s decision to take the party to court as embarrassing. Magashule was suspended after he refused to step aside in accordance with one of the party’s resolutions.
The National Executive Committee had ordered him to publicly apologise to ANC branches after he wrote a suspension letter to party President Cyril Ramaphosa, but he refused to do so.
ANC National Working Committee to discuss suspended Secretary-General’s defiance:
Instead, Magashule approached the High Court in Johannesburg to request it to declare the step-aside resolution unconstitutional and to set aside his suspension.
Saul says Magashule should not think he is above the ANC constitution.
“There is no renewal that will take place in an organisation which does not have capacity to instil discipline among its members. So, step aside is but one measure to ensure that we are going to put our organisation on a renewal trajectory. The issue of the Secretary-General; there is none of us, there is no self-respect in the member of the ANC who won’t be disappointed by Secretary-General who takes the ANC to court and I get a sense that he is doing that because he’s got quite a distorted logic about his own role as the Secretary-General.”
Northern Cape ANC Chairperson Zamani Saul reacts to Ramaphosa’s address on the provincial elective conference:
Quest to get rid of corrupt leaders
Saul says the party should persevere in its quest to rid itself of corrupt leaders.
He has called on Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize to present himself to the ANC integrity commission.
Pressure is mounting on Mkhize to resign after he admitted that his department’s awarding of a R150 million tender to communications company Digital Vibes was irregular. Mkhize made the admission on Wednesday following the outcome of an internal investigation into the tender awarded to his former private assistant, Tahera Mathera, and former spokesperson, Naardhira Mitha.
The tender was for services related to the National Health Insurance programme and government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Saul says Mkhize should appear before the Commission as a matter of principle.
“Instead of us focusing fighting that pandemic, we get distracted by allegations of corruption from us who are supposed to be leading. There are serious allegations of corruption against an NEC member which is comrade Zweli Mkhize, who is currently deployed as minister of health. If there are such allegations, in terms of the guidelines that were adopted by the NEC, expectation is that he should basically go to the Integrity Commission for the Integrity Commission to handle the matter and make recommendations to the NEC.”
‘Minister Mkhize must step down following tender investigation’:
