ANC Chief Whip calls on top leaders to quit


The Chief Whip of South Africa ruling government, Jackson Mthembu has proposed that, the top leaders of Africa National Congress, (ANC), should step down for having failed members as it moves from one crisis to the next.

Currently, the ANC is divided over the pending prosecution of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan whose alleged fraud case is set for hearing on November 2.

Mr. Mthembu said he made the call for the National Executive Committee (NEC) to resign in subsequent meetings of the party following what he described as abysmal performance in the August 3 local elections.

He said that the current leadership “reduced the governing party to something that leaves a bitter taste in the mouth”.

Going public for the first time about his call for the leadership to step down, Mr. Mthembu said he was deeply hurt to witness an ANC government using instruments of state to pursue its own Minister.

He said his target was not President Jacob Zuma and he was “not interested in any position but to save the ANC”.

He said he will not be availing himself for a position in the ANC come December 2017, when the party’s national elective conference takes place.

He will rather go back to his branch and make a contribution through political education.

Two weeks ago, National Director of Public Prosecutions Shaun Abrahams announced that Gordhan will be charged with fraud related to signing off on his former Sars deputy Ivan Pillay’s early retirement.

Mr. Mthembu and ANC Secretary General, Gwede Mantashe, were among senior party leaders and stalwarts who offered Gordhan moral and political support ahead of his appearance in court on November 2.

Their support has been interpreted as a tacit vote of no confidence against President Zuma by some in the ANC and government, blaming President Zuma for trying to taint Gordhan’s “good name” through trumped-up charges.

Other high-ranking ANC officials who have declared their support for Gordhan include Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, Zweli Mkhize, Aaron Motsoaledi, Enoch Godongwana and Joe Phaahla.

However, the ANC structures such as the youth and women’s leagues, and the Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans’ Association, have all said Gordhan must answer to the charges, like any other citizen.

Support for the beleaguered Finance Minister continued to grow this week as business leaders from the country’s 80 largest companies pledged their support for him, saying the charges were “without factual or legal foundation and not in the public interest”.

The signatories represent mining companies, major banks, clothing retailers, grocery chain stores, private hospital networks and audit firms including the JSE, Anglo American SA, Barclays Africa, Goldman Sachs, KPMG Southern Africa, Naspers, as well as Business Leadership SA and the Black Business Council.

It was widely speculated that, following the outcome of the August elections, some senior ANC members wanted to resign en masse over the ANC’s poor showing.

Excessive state expenditure on Zuma’s private home in Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal was cited as one of the main reasons for the ANC’s nosedive result of 54%.

The NPA’s decision to charge Gordhan, who was preparing to deliver the medium-term budget policy statement known as the mini budget – this Wednesday, was the final straw for ANC members such as Mthembu.

It followed a litany of scandals that happened under the watch of the ANC’s NEC, including the removal of former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene.

Mthembu said he hoped Gordhan’s case would be struck off the roll. Since his appointment as chief whip in March, Mthembu has vowed never to make mistakes akin to the manner in which the Nkandla issue was handled.

In related developments, Abrahams assured Ntlemeza that his invitation to Gordhan to make representations to the NPA was only procedural and he would still be ploughing ahead with the prosecution.

Abrahams had invited Gordhan to make representations for the charges against him to be reviewed, but the finance minister declined.

In contrast, his two co-accused – former SA Revenue Service commissioner Oupa Magashula and Pillay, complied.


SOURCE: News24