ROAD TO 2024 ELECTIONS
Exclude ANC members named in State Capture report from parliamentary list — Veterans League
While the nomination of candidates for the ANC’s provincial and national parliamentary lists is under way, the party’s Veterans League says that it is against the selection of any individuals implicated in State Capture.
The ANC Veterans League has proposed excluding those implicated in Chief Justice Raymond Zondo’s State Capture Report from its parliamentary lists for the 2024 election, which would affect MPs including ANC Chairperson Gwede Mantashe and National Executive Committee (NEC) members Malusi Gigaba, Zizi Kodwa and Thabang Makwetla.
Mantashe is the mineral resources minister, Kodwa is the arts and culture minister and Makwetla is the deputy minister in the Department of Defence and Military Veterans.
Mantashe and Kodwa have stated their intention to take the findings of the State Capture Inquiry on judicial review.
Veterans League president Snuki Zikalala told Daily Maverick there should be no exceptions when it came to dealing with members involved in wrongdoing.
The ANC previously announced it would refer to the party’s National Disciplinary Committee all those named in the State Capture Report who had not presented themselves to the party’s Integrity Commission.
Read more in Daily Maverick: ANC’s Integrity Commission to summon 97 leaders named in Zondo State Capture report
“Those on the lists must be electable and society must have confidence that they will not put their dirty hands in the cookie jar, [that] they are skilled, ethical and competent to deal with our serious economic challenges that confront the poor on a daily basis.
“This is what renewal means to bring back the integrity and dignity of the ANC. As the ANC Veterans League, we fully support the decision of the ANC/NEC held in April. It’s about the integrity and credibility of the ANC and individuals must be held to account for their misdemeanours,” Zikalala said.
He believed that there should be greater transparency about the processes the party was taking to deal with the report’s outcomes, which were scathing of the ANC.
“The coming 2024 elections are the most important and contested elections. We cannot go to the elections with individuals who are a risk to the organisation and who have issues of credibility due to State Capture.
“They must provide reasons why they have not availed themselves to the Integrity Committee, and the Disciplinary Committee must take action based on the reasons submitted. A member must explain steps that he/she has taken to mitigate the negative impact of these allegations to the ANC,” he said.
Read more in Daily Maverick: Tracking the lesser known State Capture fat cats who still hold top government jobs
The league also voiced this sentiment at the ANC’s 2019 election manifesto review event at the Dobsonville Stadium last weekend.
Speaking on behalf of Zikalala, who was absent from the gathering, party veteran Dr Fazel Randera raised the matter of members who should not be on the lists.
“We, as the Veterans League, do not want to see any candidate who has committed a crime or is alleged to have committed a crime, especially relating to the plundering of taxpayers’ money on the election lists of the ANC. Nor do we want to see any candidate who is alleged to have abused women or children on the lists. It is morally wrong and will lose us votes.
“We also believe that greater consideration [should be given] to the Zondo Commission report and especially the recommendation relating to political parties and the government,” he said.
Others implicated in Zondo’s report include former MP Vincent Smith, ANC Deputy Secretary-General Nomvula Mokonyane and MPs Winnie Ngwenya and Cedric Frolick. The deputy minister of water and sanitation, David Mahlobo, and former ministers Siyabonga Cwele, Faith Muthambi and Mildred Oliphant are also implicated.
In a statement last week, the party reiterated its stance that all members named in the report must present themselves to the relevant disciplinary bodies.
“This is a practical demonstration that the ANC is keen on the implementation of the Zondo Commission recommendations as part of our organisational renewal,” the statement read.
The ANC’s Electoral Committee has set out the rules and guidelines that will be considered for candidates looking to be MPs and provincial MPLs. The document does not mention those deemed to be involved in State Capture.
To qualify for nomination, all candidates must meet the following criteria: “Have no criminal record or criminal charges brought by the NPA (this excludes political-related crimes committed before April 1994). Private prosecutions are excluded unless these result in criminal convictions by a court of law… No candidate shall be eligible for nomination if he/she has been found guilty by a Disciplinary Committee for contravening the ANC Code of Conduct, and had their membership suspended for any period in the last ten years. This rule applies also where a member is awaiting the outcome of a disciplinary hearing or an appeal.”
‘Premature’
Electoral Committee secretary Chief Livhuwani Matsila told Daily Maverick that while they respect the views of the league, it is unfortunate that they are making comments of this nature after the approval of the rules and guidelines by the NEC.
He explained that by hauling those who are implicated in State Capture before the party’s integrity committee is all part of due process. Which means it is premature for the league to make assertions of this nature.
“Until due processes have been finalised it would be too premature to exclude comrades because some issues may end up with people appearing in court and being criminally charged.
“We would like to call on all leaders to refrain from making their own rules, because it could lead to disunity. We will meet with the Veterans League and other structures to clarify the rules,” he said. DM
Become an Insider
STEP ASIDE RULE 🤫
It is so encouraging to at least see some positive signs. It is just not enough.
Let’s not beat around the bush here. Anyone involved in state capture is a criminal and potentially a murderer, given that real people have really died due to gutted services and gutted hospitals.
There is no question that implicated people should be tried and if found guilty, jailed.
Failure to do this makes a paper tiger of government and clearly sends the message “crime does pay” to all, including honest people who suffer daily working to put food on the table for their families.
ie. Government inaction is a recipe for disaster.
Pre-election politicking. until after the election when all these corrupt cadres are deployed again. I do not believe they will ever change. The ANC must GO!
Exactly right
Too late! – this is a reality check pre election. Suddenly taking the high ground. Will relapse into silence after the election.
The Snuki statement is a first for an ANC cadre and too good to be real.
Let us wait for Fikile to rubbish it.
I recall there were questions around Snuki during the Mbeki era. How short our memories are… And now he’s seen as one of the “good” people.
Unlike the ANC Youth & Women’s Leagues when the Veterans speak I pay attention. I may not agree with them all of the time but I sincerely believe their principles are well intended.
The ANC has been paying lip service to the Veterans for years & the Veterans themselves know this. I often wonder what might happen were they to dissociate themselves – suspend their own participation & membership – as an act of protest?
If they dissociated themselves, the ANC wouldn’t give a damn: when the party that blames foreigners for every problem in South Africa, whilst simultaneously celebrating the fixed election of the man responsible for the flood of people into our country and not saying one word in protest about the Russian terrorists murdering people across the continent, do you really think they’ll shiver when a bunch of washed up, Mbeki era acolytes make a statement with no way of actually making a difference?
When you watch and read the likes of Zikalala, Msimang and Manuel whispering in self-deference about being ‘Elders’ it looks like a badly scripted (but mercifully cut) piece of a long-forgotten Star Wars episode where the ‘Elders’ were Jedi Knights capable of fighting the Evil Empire. They’re so far up their own posteriors, they can see the Death Star between their tonsils!
Hilarious!
Hahaha, you pay attention to the anc veterans league – poor delusional soul
He’s probably a member of the Veteran’s League himself which is the only reason he pays attention to it. Only an idiot would pay attention to anything emanating from the ANC.
Absolutely
You what?
Don’t hold your breath!’ We have seen it all before. The putrid anc looks after its own and recycles them. These scumbags and many others are nothing but parasites, thieves and criminals – the fact that they still hold any positions in the party, let alone prominent ones, says it all about how rotten, decrepit and wicked the vile anc has become. There is only solution for SA – get rid of this rubbish.
Such a difference between those whose snouts are in the trough and those looking on from the outside. These calls are nothing new and except for Ace, has had little to no effect. Definitely not holding my breath. It’s sad and a bit funny to see these stalwarts trying to save the rotting carcass of the ANC.
How is it that “rules must be clarified” and “create disunity” always!. There seems to always be a get out of jail card with this comrades. It is as clear as chicken pox that quite a large percentage of comrades in arms err government are rotten thieves. ANC I challenge you to NOT CLEAN-UP rather let the electorate vote you out!!!!
Zondo Report was issued between Jan and April 2022. 12 to 17 months ago. What has the ANC done about it? Basically nothing. Now there is some bleating about excluding from parliamentary lists individuals mentioned in the report. And they will talk about that for a while. And the election will be completed. And the bleating will stop. And the same old crooks will be back in ANC parliamentary seats
Even more important, what has the NPA done!
Sly Cyril promised us lifestyle audits five years ago, but we’re still waiting for those of the ministers and other highest ranking officials. Unscrupulous Cyril won’t let something as minor as the Zondo Report get in his way of rewarding those in the ANC who have internal party power from getting plumb positions. No integrity, no honour, no decency in today’s ANC. Maybe if these ‘veterans’ had found a voice 20 years ago, we wouldn’t be in this mess today.
Should the Veterans get their way I think that there would be a lot of new faces in the ANC. Most of the ones that I can think of have some sort of cloud hanging over them.
Hey Geoff, Regards.
A very good idea from the ANC veterans league if it could happen, but i do not see the ANC implementing it as it would decimate their party, and as they are still having corruption by their members
Expect nothing, absolutely nothing, to happen to any of the thugs mentioned in Zondo’s report!
The best for the country would be no action from the ANC as what we don’t want another fake puppet pretending to be clean, well spoken and pro business. The more the ANC artificially plaster over issues the better for the likes of Action SA and other awesome political parties. Let’s help the ANC believe they don’t need to change and they will win at least 51 percent of the vote.
The ANC Veterans League is just proving to be ineffective because these are issues they should have raised within the structures, win that debate inside and have it as a requirement. What they are doing is grandstanding and they are placing themselves at the seat of righteousness.
Totally agree exclude them
This is the same Snuki Zikalala who blacklisted political commentators on the SABC, lied about this policy to the nation and then fired John Perlman who had the temerity to expose the truth. Tricky to occupy the moral ground now. That being said, excluding Zondo’s rogues gallery from the next election might be a very small step in the right direction.
That excludes ALL the current ANC representatives!
They all benefitted from State Capture?
Great sentiment, but I’m not holding my breath …
“bring back the integrity and dignity of the ANC”. If I had a cent for the amount of times I’ve heard ANC members say the same sentence – whether they’re the corrupt ones or not…. Same old blah, blah, blah. It must be a sentence somewhere in the “How to be an ANC sheep” manual that they regurgitate with extreme regularity and absolutely no idea of how to implement the return to so-called integrity and dignity. But they don’t run out of energy saying it over and over again, because somewhere in the manual, it says that the cabal once had some integrity and dignity.
There won’t be left on the list.
The ANC may end up with a very short PR list next election.
Those mentioned are unlikely to present themselves to the headmaster’s office for a gentle tap on the wrist, it’s embarrassing. The ANC just confirms it’s lack of morality, ethics and decency by even suggesting it. The committee is toothless and a waste of time, money and energy. Nothing will change them, the ANC has to GO.