Due to negative findings against them in Chief Justice Raymond Zondo’s State Capture Report, the ANC top 7 has identified senior members who ought to be taken off the party’s national lists. The majority of party members on the National Executive Committee, however, think that for the time being, efforts to get these members removed from the Parliamentary list should be put on hold.
Following a report from their officials on Thursday night, the African National Congress (ANC) National Executive Committee (NEC) learned that David Mahlobo, Zizi Kodwa, Cedric Frolick, and Malusi Gigaba are not qualified to run for office as members of the National Assembly.
The top seven members of the party produced the report after reviewing a dossier on individuals involved in state capture that they obtained from Frank Chikane’s Integrity Committee.
As far as Daily Maverick is aware, the State Capture investigation is alleged to have returned negative results on these members’ behavior. Gigaba, a member of the NEC, and Mahlobo, the deputy minister of water and sanitation, in particular, did not show up for the party’s Integrity Committee meeting and as a result, have not yet been cleared.
The conversation continued until the wee hours of Friday.
Since they are most likely not on the party’s list for these elections, other implicated party members were not discussed.
Gigaba, Mahlobo, and Kodwa were on a list that appeared to be the party’s parliamentary list that was submitted to the IEC on Friday night. However, this list was later shown to be fraudulent.
Political parties were given till Friday at 5 p.m. to provide the IEC with their lists. The commission has not yet made these available to the public.
Kodwa was linked to questionable dealings with Jehan Mackay, a former director of the IT company EOH, in State Capture.
According to the study, he benefited from personal loans from Mackay and there was an apparent attempt to buy his influence over tender decisions.
When Mahlobo was the State Security Minister, he was Charged of Buying Off Judges.
In Zondo’s report’s third part, Frolick was mentioned. He was charged with engaging in dubious activities with Bosasa.
According to reports, he was instrumental in helping Bosasa “win over Mr. Vincent Smith, the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services and Justice.” Smith faced criminal charges in 2020 in connection with claims of corruption involving Bosasa.
According to Zondo’s findings, Gigaba should be looked into for possible racketeering and corruption in connection with cash payments they may have received while visiting the Gupta residence in Saxonwold between 2010 and 2018.
Gigaba, who served as Public Enterprises Minister, is alleged to have had intimate ties to the Gupta family or to have been a “willing participant” in their state-capturing plans.
Who is not in doubt?
Following their hearings before the party integrity committee, senior members Thabang Makwetla and Zweli Mkhize, as well as ANC national head Gwede Mantashe, are cleared in the report.
The claims that Mantashe and Makwetla benefited from security upgrades from Bosasa were refuted.
Mkhize was cleared for his role in the multimillion-dollar Digital Vibes scam, which forced him to resign as Health Minister at the time.
A $580,000 theft at Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala in 2020 led to suspicions of impropriety, and he went before the Integrity Committee. He has also received the all-clear.
The deputy president of the ruling party, Paul Mashtaile, the finance minister, Enoch Godongwana, the chairperson of the Eastern Cape, Oscar Mabuyane, Pemmy Majodina, the chief whip for the African National Congress, Premier Refilwe Mtsweni-Tsipane of Mpumalanga, and Minister of the presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, are among those who have been cleared for matters unrelated to the State Capture report.
Point of contention
According to sources in the party’s NEC who spoke with Daily Maverick, there was disagreement about the four senior members’ omission, with most voicing worries about the ramifications of this decision.
On the one hand, there was a strong belief that removing them from the list in the event that they had not been legally charged would be unfair and go against the ANC’s current step-aside policies.
According to the party’s step-aside standards, people who have been charged in court ought to be barred from holding public office and from participating in any ANC initiatives.
Sanctions against those suspected of participating in state capture are not included in the document of the electoral committee.
To be eligible for nomination, each candidate needs to fulfill the subsequent requirements: “Have no criminal history or charges filed by the NPA (political offenses committed prior to April 1994 are not included in this).”
“Private prosecutions are not allowed unless a court of law finds them guilty of a crime. If a candidate has had their membership suspended for any reason within the previous ten years and has been found guilty by a Disciplinary Committee of violating the ANC Code of Conduct, they are not allowed to run for office. This rule is also applicable to members who are awaiting the result of an appeal or disciplinary hearing.
There was also discussion, though, over whether or not submitting members who were named in the Zondo Report would expose them to public censure and damage their electoral campaign.
Pundits have projected that the ANC may fall below 50% for the first time in this year’s election, which has been labeled as significant as the nation’s first democratic elections in 1994.
A few members think that the removal of the four senior members would cause rifts within the ANC and NEC and deter those who have been flagged from running for office.
Members of the NEC discovered that procedures were broken in order to determine the final four, who were then removed off the national list.
It was said that conversations regarding the future of people implicated were difficult because the collective had not read most of the Integrity Committee reports included in the top 7.
To prevent legal action, the overwhelming consensus was that the names should remain on the list until the issue had been resolved.
The final say will, however, rest with the party’s national officials.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions and the SA Communist Party, two alliance partners and NEC members, solidified their candidates during the party’s list meeting on Monday.
The party’s highest decision-making committee approved the list, and the top 7 had to finalize it before the submission deadline of March 8th. Parties have till 5 p.m. to submit their lists to the IEC. DM
Update: ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri stated that four members had been identified during a briefing on Friday afternoon. She did not go into depth, but she did indicate that Fikile Mbalula, the party secretary-general, and Kgalema Motlanthe, the chair of the electoral committee, will be holding a briefing on Monday to provide more information.
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