[ad_1]
In the report, the commission recommended to the ANC Secretary General Ace Magashule to step aside with immediate effect, saying this was in line with the ruling party’s stance, affirmed in August.
FILE: ANC Secretary General Ace Magashule addressed the media on May 13, 2019 on the sidelines of the special CNE meeting in Pretoria. Image: @ MYANC / Twitter
JOHANNESBURG – A leading constitutional expert has welcomed a report by the integrity commission of the African National Congress (ANC) recommending that Secretary General Ace Magashule step aside.
ALSO READ: ANC Integrity Commission Concerned About NEC’s Role in Implementing Party Resolutions
In the report, the commission recommended that Magashule step aside with immediate effect, saying this was in line with the ruling party’s stance asserted in August.
In addition, it recommended that, if it resists to do so, the highest decision-making body of the ANC, the national executive committee (CNE), intervene and suspend it pending the result of its criminal trial.
Magashule met with the integrity commission after his arrest in November. He has faced charges of fraud and corruption since his time as Prime Minister of the Free State.
While he had previously refused to step aside, Magashule told the integrity commission that he would do so if asked by the NEC.
READ: ANC NEC to deal with integrity commission report on Magashule in new year – Mabe
Lawson Naidoo, executive secretary of the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (Casac), said the report left little room for maneuver for Magashule.
The integrity commission has long been criticized for being a toothless tiger. It has no mandate to instruct and, in previous cases, its recommendations were ignored or overlooked.
But Naidoo said the tone of the report was considerably different.
“They talk about factions within the ANC and individual interests that triumph in organizational integrity and the like. And they say that if there is going to be unity, it will be unity based on principles, but not in the interests of the people, ”Naidoo said.
“In many respects, this commission report is actually reading riot law to the NEC, saying that the NEC is not providing the kind of leadership that is required for the organization’s highest decision-making body,” he added.
Naidoo believes this is a time of life and death for the ANC.
“If the NEC does not implement this resolution, it would be a very, very dark day for the ANC,” Naidoo said.
Download the EWN app on your iOS or Android device.
[ad_2]
