[ad_1]
Illustrative image | Sources: Felix Dlangamandla | Gallo Images / Alet Pretorius | Adobe Stock
The ANC’s Radical Economic Transformation faction has been effectively banned from organizing and faces disciplinary action from the party.
ANC Secretary General Ace Magashule has 30 days to step down or face suspension and disciplinary action by the party.
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced late on Monday that these 30 days could not be used to review the Integrity Commission’s decision that Magashule should withdraw after being charged with 74 counts of corruption and fraud by the National Prosecutor’s Office for the waste of R233 million. in an asbestos roof audit in the Free State.
It’s been 105 days since the Integrity Commission made its finding in December 2020, and Magashule has avoided stepping aside, arguing that only a conference of branches that elected it can order it to do so. But the National Executive Committee (NEC) had nothing to do with his argument, which the reformist wing defeated.
“The NEC welcomed… Magashule’s decision to use this time to seek the advice of former leaders of the movement. The NEC called on all ANC members to unite around this decision and not engage in any act of indiscipline, including through mobilizations or public statements that undermine the implementation of the conference resolution, ”Ramaphosa said.
The party ruled at its 2017 national conference that any representative (elected or employee) who has been criminally charged should stand down. The rule has been applied unevenly, and Magashule used this as a battering ram to fight the NEC for the four days of their meeting that began on Friday. The meeting was heated and Magashule’s lieutenants spent all of Monday filtering threats of mass resignations if the NEC pushed him to resign. These did not materialize when the meeting ended.
Neither the revised guidelines to provide the process by which members facing criminal charges should withdraw, nor the original 2017 resolution provide for a 30-day period of counseling by former ANC leaders.
Nasrec’s conference ordered the NEC to “summarily suspend individuals who do not provide an acceptable explanation or who voluntarily resign while facing disciplinary, investigative or prosecution procedures.”
Magashule was charged 137 days ago and made his first court appearance in November 2020.
Enraged by the factionalism gripping the party, Ramaphosa also announced an effective ban on the Radical Economic Transformation (RET) faction.
“The NEC … condemned the establishment of groups operating as an organized faction within the ANC to undermine [the ANC]. The meeting agreed that no member of the ANC should associate or participate in the so-called RET Forces. [The NEC] it will not allow any member of the ANC to use the resources and facilities of the ANC to hold meetings of the RET or any other faction ”.
Mildred Oliphant, chair of the ANC National Disciplinary Committee, was instructed to investigate and press charges against the RET faction, represented at ANC Luthuli House by Carl Niehaus, who works in the Magashule office. Recently, he authored a document that describes the economic policy positions of the RET group.
The NEC once again reiterated its support for the Zondo Investigation Commission on State Capture, as a counterpoint to its former president Jacob Zuma, who has refused to appear before him and has issued repeated attacks against the judiciary for orders to obey summons to appear.
“The NEC sees your presentation [to be made to the Zondo Commission in April] as necessary for the commission’s work and important for the broader effort to confront the capture of the state, ”Ramaphosa said.
And while the party has effectively banned the use of the RET and the MK Military Veterans Association as a private militia, it has encouraged its members to join the Defend Our Democracy movement. The movement, launched earlier this month, has high-ranking ANC veterans in its ranks.
“The NEC expressed concern about the use of the name Umkhonto we Sizwe to promote factionalism in the ANC. [It] it warned against statements or actions that discredit the proud history and remarkable legacy, “the party said in its statement.
He warned that society was increasingly defining the ruling party as a “multiplicity of factions pursuing their selfish interests.”
Ramaphosa looked exhausted as he read the five-page statement. The NEC meeting was long, exhausting, and divided, and Magashule appears poised to turn the next 30 days into a battlefield of misinformation and lobbying.
“The NEC noted the resurgence of an orchestrated ‘fake news’ campaign directed against President Cyril Ramaphosa and other leaders, similar to the disinformation crusade that South Africa experienced during the height of state capture,” the statement said.
Iqbal Survé newspapers have published an ‘exclusive’ claiming that billionaire Johann Rupert had ordered Ramaphosa to ditch Magashule, claiming on Monday that Cooperative Governance Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma had spoken at the meeting about this. . The reports offer no evidence and have been vigorously denied. DM
