“Comrade Mondli Gungubele has become the latest ANC MP to join a defiance campaign to publicly pronounce that he will not vote according to the ANC party line in the upcoming motion of no confidence in President Zuma by the opposition in Parliament,” he said in a statement.

Last week, Gungubele said he no longer had confidence in Zuma, joining ANC MPs Makhosi Khoza and former finance minister Pravin Gordhan in publicly calling on the president to leave office.

“These utterances are utterly out of order and represent the most extreme form of ill-discipline,” said Mthembu. He previously used similar words to chastise a defiant Khoza.

Mthembu said ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe had spoken to Gungubele about his public pronouncements.

“Comrade Gungubele has expressly defined his political programme to be that of self-promotion masquerading as political correctness at the expense of the ANC.”

He said it was unfortunate that Gungubele was acting in a “crude, defiant manner” and not respecting the ANC’s democratic centralism and collective leadership.

The ANC was aware of the problems it faced and was busy with a “political programme of self-reflection and correction”.

The ANC’s parliamentary caucus was accountable to the party’s national executive committee (NEC) and no MP was a free agent, he said.

“We are calling on the organisation through its constitutional structures to act against the ill-disciplined behaviour of comrade Gungubele. His ill-discipline is no longer an ANC caucus matter as it is questioning and defying decisions of the ANC as a political centre and authority.”

After a stint as mayor of Ekurhuleni, Gungubele became an MP again last year and joined the portfolio committee on communications.

The motion of no confidence is scheduled for next Tuesday. National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete still has to announce if a secret ballot will be used. DM