DAILY MAVERICK INTERVIEW
Step-aside rule key for ANC accountability but also potential death knell for members’ careers — David Masondo
The ANC National Executive Committee member believes that the slow pace at which criminal cases against its members are handled could undermine the party’s controversial but necessary step-aside guidelines.
There was a genuine concern within the party’s ranks that the application of the guidelines halted some members’ political careers indefinitely, Deputy finance minister David Masondo told Daily Maverick.
“This is what it is going to undermine, the efficiency of the criminal justice system in moving with speed in dealing with issues because yes, there is a concern that you get charged and the case drags and drags and your rights of association, of being elected to lead the ANC get violated,” he said on the sidelines of the Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation’s Inclusive Growth Forum, which was held in the Drakensberg.
However, Masondo believes that the rule is important in building accountability within the governing party. He states that it is key in the organisational renewal of the ANC.
“We have told South Africans that we are trying to rid ourselves of the image of a corrupt party and we commit that anyone amongst ourselves who is charged for corruption, he or she should step down. This is a commitment we made during our local government campaign. This matter is no longer between ANC members, it is between the ANC and South Africans. It is part and parcel; we as members of the ANC, if we are charged for corruption, we will step down.
“Corruption diverts resources for the intended beneficiary. If you cannot separate fighting corruption and how we as the ANC conduct ourselves before the nation. If you repurpose economic resources that are meant to provide services that are meant to provide economic growth by way of investing in infrastructure, education and take it for your private use. You are undermining our ability to grow the economy. The ANC as an organ that should be in the hands of the people must reflect what it seeks to do,” he explained.
Earlier this year, at the ANC’s national policy conference in Nasrec, party president Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the majority of delegates had endorsed the step-aside rule to remain in place.
The party’s divisions on the matter had started to show just before the gathering. Provinces have taken a stance on the resolution — Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal wanted it scrapped, while Mpumalanga, the Eastern Cape and the Northern Cape wanted it to be retained.
ANC moves to crack down on unruly members by getting step-aside rule cemented into constitution
Visit Daily Maverick’s home page for more news, analysis and investigations
The resolution has caused much controversy within the party since it was formally introduced in 2021, with one of its first casualties being secretary-general Ace Magashule. He refused to step aside and had to be suspended from his position.
Others who have borne the brunt of the ruling include former ANC Limpopo treasurer Danny Msiza, former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede, the former mayor of the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality, Olly Mlamleli, and former parliamentary portfolio committee chairs Bongani Bongo and Zukiswa Ncitha.
Msiza, Gumede, Magashule and Bongo are just some of the members who have been dealing with their cases for more than a year and have missed the opportunity to contest for leadership positions.
According to Masondo, the step-aside guidelines should be retained if the majority of ANC members are in support of them.
“First we have to establish what principles we will use to renew the party and if we do not agree, yes we can debate them but those ones may not agree with the views and must respect the majoritarian view. The unity of the ANC is based on principles of the majoritarian view. Everyone has to be united around those resolutions and we need to be consistent,” he said.
Masondo is vying for the position of ANC chairperson, which is currently occupied by Gwede Mantashe — who is hoping to be re-elected. Former party president Jacob Zuma sent shockwaves when he recently also threw his hat in the ring for the position. However, Masondo’s biggest competition might be ANC Limpopo chair Stan Mathabatha, who has been endorsed by a number of provinces.
Masondo has held different political and managerial positions in government, including serving as the Finance MEC and Director in the Local Government Department in Limpopo. He holds a PhD from New York University (US). He is a member of the ANC’s subcommittee on the Economic Transformation Committee. The deputy minister was recently elected to serve as the second general secretary of the South African Communist Party.
These are his thoughts on the type of leadership the ANC should be looking to elect at its 55th national conference in December: “The ANC needs leadership that is going to unify the ANC, not convenient unity but around a set of principles and a programme. That programme must respond to the challenges facing South Africa.”
When asked whether the ANC is still relevant in the current political landscape, he said that the party still has what it takes to govern.
“I don’t think it is the end of the road for the ANC, it depends on how we rebuild ourselves and are relevant. The key thing for me now is for the ANC to retain its legitimacy depending on how we contribute towards dealing with unemployment, the energy crisis, dealing with our state entities and turning things around; [these] will determine whether we are still relevant to South Africans. Our history is great and glorious and the big challenge is how do we build an ANC capable of dealing with the economic problems of the people,” he said. DM
Masuabi was a guest of the Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation
Destroy their careers? Their incompetence and dishonesty have done that. Unfortunately governance and infrastructure have been destroyed too. No sympathy whatsoever: the chaos they have created is clear to see.
The step aside rule and the Stalingrad strategy of criminals don’t work well together then. Good.
The enjoyable irony is that its the ANC themselves, including their former leader, clogging up the courts
These people are unemployable outside the ANC due to their incompetency, most are only there for access to tenders anyway.
Well the remedy to the adverse impact of the step aside rule is for every ANC member to keep their grubby hands and noses out of the public trough so that they cannot be accused of corruption or theft of state resources!
Sometimes the ANC rather gives the impression of a Mafia-style organisation than a political party. It seems that step-aside only helps is it becomes a kick-aside. Legal actions are blunt tools due to endless and senseless litigations.
Unfortunately, the biggest portion of the electorate is only seeing the three letters as their bread- basket und the party elite as a passport to life in splendor!
If the anc, through supporting zuma and his ilk for 10 years, were honest with itself they will realise that they and only they are to blame for 99,9% of every mess this country is currently facing. The NPA takes eons to prosecute because the anc destroyed the Scorpions and then hollowed the NPA out to an almost useless organisation.
Masondo is the secretary general of the South African communist party and the ANC deputy finance minister. Being a communist, does he really supports the step aside rule? I am certainly not convinced.
The “victims” say their chance of promotion is hampered because of the time it takes for cases to get to court and be resolved. Well who is to blame for that? They still enjoy full salary and perks while they wait, and if the result is not what they want there will be appeal after appeal, while still receiving their salary and the state pays their legal fees. Shame, my heart bleeds for them.
What is galling is the assumption of entitlement. As if after the interminable damage the ANC has wrought against this country and its citizens, that there should even be a discussion about the ANC’s ability to govern. The definition of madness: continuing to do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result.
How embarrassing to have to make such a statement.
Try out the best policy; honesty.
By far most politicians are in it for self interest, relying on voters and the election process to consistently identify and exclude those who will abuse political office is not working. The framework in which politics is conducted should be made more robust, one measure is to allow a majority of voters to recall individual office bearers and bare them from further public office for a few years.
The step – aside rule is an ANC internal process including the toothless ANC integrity commission made up of geriatrics . The public is not really interested in ANC internal processes except its members. The public is only interested in the how the law enforcement agencies and the NPA execute their constitutional and legal mandates. The nonsense of step – aside does not wash nor the gimmick of the integrity commission except on journalists who are confused about party and state processes .
The ANC constitution has options that Ntuli put than the useless step -aside. The first is not to renew membership of people who are charged with serious crimes and you exclude them from membership of the organisation. The second is to invoke disciplinary processes in terms of the ANC Constitution. The step – aside invented as a trick to fool the public as if the ANC is doing something about the corrupt in its midst whilst it is doing nothing if you look at Zizi Kodwa and EOH saga, Mantashe, Mahlobo, Ntshavheni, others. Masondo, has sexual issues around himself and for this writer not to ask about his scandal is scandalous itself because he has no credibility to speak on anything himself . Some of us are not fools as the arrests recently carried out are smoke and mirrors for the FATF greylisting that raised failure of arrests for state capture. You ask yourself what made the NPA to charge Transnet and Eskom people for corruption after such a long time what is new.