ROAD TO 2024 ELECTIONS
ANC’s Gigaba, Mahlobo, Kodwa, and Frolick recommended for parliamentary chop amid NEC objections
The ANC top 7 has flagged senior members who should be removed from the party’s national lists as a result of having adverse findings against them in Chief Justice Raymond Zondo’s State Capture Report. However, the majority of the party’s National Executive Committee members believe steps to have these members removed from the Parliamentary list should be halted for now.
The ANC’s National Executive Committee (NEC) on Thursday evening received a report from their officials which said Malusi Gigaba, David Mahlobo, Zizi Kodwa, and Cedric Frolick are ineligible to stand to be members of the National Assembly.
The report was compiled by the party’s top 7 following a dossier they received from the party’s Integrity Committee led by Frank Chikane, regarding those who have been implicated in State Capture.
Daily Maverick understands that these members are said to have adverse findings against their conduct by the State Capture inquiry. In particular, Mahlobo, who is the Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation along with Gigaba — an NEC member, did not appear before the party’s Integrity Committee and therefore has not been cleared at this point.
The discussion went on into the early hours of Friday morning.
Other implicated party members were not the subject of discussion, in all likelihood because they are not on the party’s list for these elections.
On Friday night a list purporting to be the party’s parliamentary list handed to the IEC saw Gigaba, Mahlobo and Kodwa making the list but this was later marked as fake.
Political parties had until 5pm on Friday to submit their lists to the IEC. These are yet to be made public by the commission.
Kodwa was implicated in State Capture for dubious transactions between himself and Jehan Mackay, a former director at technology group EOH.
Read more in Daily Maverick: Zizi Kodwa’s deputy minister job ‘untenable’ while beholden to corruption-accused
The report points to a beneficial relationship involving personal loans made to him by Mackay and an apparent attempt to buy his influence in the awarding of tenders.
Mahlobo was accused of bribing judges during his tenure as State Security Minister.
Read more in Daily Maverick: Investigate Arthur Fraser, David Mahlobo and Thulani Dlomo – State Capture Commission
Frolick was implicated in Part 3 of Zondo’s report. He was accused of having dodgy dealings with Bosasa.
He is said to have played a critical role in “winning over Mr Vincent Smith, the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services and Justice” for Bosasa’s benefit. In 2020, Smith was criminally charged in relation to corruption allegations related to Bosasa.
He was one of four MPs who were later cleared by the Joint Committee on Ethics and Members’ Interests.
Zondo’s report recommended that Gigaba be investigated for corruption and racketeering in relation to cash payments allegedly received by them during visits to the Gupta compound in Saxonwold in the period 2010-2018.
Gigaba is said to have had a close relationship with the Guptas or was a “willing participant” in their state-capturing schemes during his tenure as Public Enterprises Minister.
Who is in the clear?
The report clears ANC national chair Gwede Mantashe, along with senior members Thabang Makwetla and Zweli Mkhize following their appearances before the party integrity committee.
Mantashe and Makwetla were both cleared of allegations that they enjoyed security upgrades from Bosasa.
Mkhize has been cleared for his involvement in the multi-million Digital Vibes scandal which prompted him to step aside from his then-position as Health Minister.
Read more in Daily Maverick: Lest We Forget: Digital Vibes, two years on — Zweli Mkhize & Co still free, probe ‘ongoing’
Ramaphosa appeared before the Integrity Committee after being suspected of wrongdoing regarding a $580,000 theft which took place at his Phala Phala in 2020. He has also been cleared.
Read more in Daily Maverick: Ramaphosa’s Farmgate scandal – a timeline of what we know (and don’t know) so far
Others who are out of the red include the governing party’s deputy president Paul Mashtaile, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, Eastern Cape chairperson Oscar Mabuyane, ANC Chief Whip Pemmy Majodina, Mpumalanga Premier Refilwe Mtsweni-Tsipane and Minister in the presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, have been cleared for matters outside of the State Capture report.
Bone of contention
Sources in the party’s NEC told Daily Maverick that there was a row over the exclusion of the four senior members, with the majority raising concerns about the consequences of this move.
On the one hand, there was a strong sense that it would be unfair to exclude them from the list if they had not been formally charged and would contradict the ANC’s existing step-aside guidelines.
The party’s step-aside guidelines mention that those who have been charged in a court of law should not be allowed to be deployed to public office or engage in any ANC programmes.
The electoral committee document makes no mention of sanctions for those accused of being 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 10 years. This rule applies also where a member is awaiting the outcome of a disciplinary hearing or an appeal.”
However, there were also talks about whether submitting members fingered in the Zondo Report would result in harsh criticism from the public and subsequently lead to the weakening of their election campaign.
This year’s election has been dubbed to be as important as the country’s first democratic elections in 1994 and pundits have predicted that the ANC might for the first time drop below 50%.
Some members believe that excluding the four senior members would lead to divisions within the NEC and ANC and discourage those who have been flagged from campaigning for the organisation.
NEC members identified that processes were flouted in arriving at the final four who have been disqualified from the national list.
There were complaints about the collective having not seen a bulk of the Integrity Committee reports referred to in the top 7 feedback, making it hard to have discussions on the future of those involved.
That is why the overwhelming view was that they not remove the names until they have properly dealt with the matter, to avoid facing legal action.
However, the national officials of the party will have the final say.
The party held its list conference on Monday, where NEC members and alliance partners, the Congress of South African Trade Unions as well as the SA Communist Party, consolidated their candidates.
The list was adopted by the party’s highest decision-making body and then had to be finalised by the top 7 ahead of the submission deadline of 8 March. The IEC has set a 5pm deadline for parties to submit their lists. DM
Update: During a briefing on Friday afternoon, ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu- Motsiri confirmed that there are four members who have been flagged. She declined to elaborate on the matter but mentioned the party secretary-general Fikile Mbalula would hold a briefing alongside Electoral Committee chair Kgalema Motlanthe on Monday to reveal further details.
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The bar is set so low ANC might as well forget the integrity charade
Agreed. But we’re watching it for entertainment to see what Houdini manoeuvres they’re using this time to wriggle out of their ‘commitment’.
So true! They wiggled out again, amazing performance!
Sadly, after 30 years of watching the same sociopathic clowns changing their hats, for me it is just boring.
Bar is low a mole would trip over it.
The ANC needle has a very large eye.
Where is Mavuso Msimang now? Can we expect him to resign again?
My first thought – let’s see his levels of integrity.
Put the crooks on the list to keep NEC happy.
Put them low on the list.
The ANC will not get enough votes for the people low down on the list to make Parliament
= problem solved 😉
very very good suggestion he he he he he he
Including Mantashe and Ntshavheni…… not going to happen, Ramaphosa friends
Don’t forget that even with 40% the ANC will still send 160 parliamentarians to parly.
All these shysters are well above that list number and will continue to grace the plush, if tight, City Hall seats.
There is only one thing that the intelligent person will be focusing on now:
How to get into the shortest queue to cast your vote for the DA.
Yes, but the majority of voters are… well, not intellectual giants, to put it diplomatically.
Can thank the Nats for that. People seem to forget it was them that engineered this, and the ANC just picked up where they left off.
The four excluded are essentially small fry whereas there are some very senior names among those who have not been excluded. The school report on the deliberations of the NEC is a repetitive “Must try harder”.
I wonder if the ANC reads these comments, this is disaster not even one stupid person defending them, destroying the education system works well for them because they would not get even one vote if we were an entirely educated nation.
To those out of parliament it’s good riddance it’s long over due.
So true. They’re getting far too many votes. At this point I’d expect even the original ANC veterans not to vote for the current ANC inc. (MK/EFF). Unfortunately education doesn’t always lead to enlightenment or wisdom
The approach is probably throw some of the crooks under the bus, exclude from the lists so they can perhaps just slightly plausibly claim they have taken action…..then redeploy the comrats. Expect a flurry of ambassadorial appointments after 29 May
And this folks, is how politics works!
The ANC is crapping itself over this circus of national entertainment. The entire party is implicated in corruption which extends from accepting freebie holidays in Dubai to having expensive home security equipment installed free of charge. The bigger prezzies accepted by ANC top guns appear to include big cash handouts from suppliers to the SA defence force and and kickbacks from suppliers of educational material to heads in that ministry. Suspending them all would be a suicidal exercise leaving the ANC stripped and paralysed. So, this circus is going to be a fascinating saga in the next few weeks. DM will keep us in the loop.
Correct, every single one of them is a criminal, they have all acted in concert. Guilty by participation or at the very best for any ANC member on the “list” by acquiescence.
I agree. The ENTIRE party. Everyone, not just the few hundred MPs, but every single member in every little dorp.
The filth just keeps on floating around and sorry folks, our net has a hole in it!
….. like that floater when you flush and flush, it just won’t go away …
Integrity Committee- half if not all of them are just as dishonest and are a part of the cabal.
I would imagine that “appearing” b4 the Committee involved having a cup of tea and discussing how to screw with the citizens of SA further
Exactly…the word INTEGRITY has no meaning on this putrid organisation!!!
And advice on how not to get caught out next time
“However, there were also talks about whether submitting members fingered in the Zondo Report would result in harsh criticism from the public and subsequently lead to the weakening of their election campaign.”
Not a single moral or ethical consideration. Just whether the “optics” (Ramafibber’s term) would enable the rest to loot more. JZ783 was not “recalled” because of crime or perception of crime but simply because the “optics” were bad.
The entire ANC list is rotten.
Sometime, somehow, the chickens will come home to roost. They can’t possibly all end up at KFC.
This has to be the biggest joke of all time!! A” political party” agonizing and spending days and nights “debating” if alleged corrupt members should or shouldn’t be included in their so called honors list. The words honesty, integrity, responsibility, accountability, pride, intellect are simply missing as this charade plays out! So much for Frogboilers hype and promises to end corruption! It is an insult of monumental proportions to this country and its citizens but….hey, the ANC is in power and we don’t care!!!
And Kodwa was invited by UCT to speak on ethics ! Unbelievable.
Actually Koko.
Not Kodwa, Koko.
If it was S.A.C.S or Wynberg Boys High then you should worry, U.C.T. naw.
NEWSFLASH
ANC to adopt new AI technology to root out corruption.
Scientists at Luthuli house have developed the world’s first AI (artificial integrity) algorithm which will now begin rooting out any anti-transformation forces within the movement. Using a combination of machine learning and input from the NEC members, this advanced computing system has proven shown the couches are able to grow dollars, the riots in KZN never happened and JZ is innocent. The scientists have now tasked the AI with working out Shabbier Sheiks golf handicap.
97 mentioned and they chop 4 what a joke.
And the 97 are the tip of the iceberg.
“Mantashe and Makwetla were both cleared of allegations that they enjoyed security upgrades from Bosasa.”
BUT Mantashe previously admitted he had received security upgrade from Bosasa; he just didnt see anything wrong with it. Now the ANC are trying to convince themselves that he did not receive that which he had already admitted receiving.
ANC trying to thread an impossible needle, and trying to square an obvious circle. What a bunch of crooks.
Gwede passed muster? And Mkhize? Well if that didn’t demonstrate this as a charade, nothing will. Not that it ever would. Renewal indeed. Lies, lies and more lies. They just can’t stop, like irrevercoverable alcoholics it only ends one way.
Comrades before country.
The totally corrupt vetting and defending the utterly corrupt! What a terrible farce! And the ignorant voters will vote for them again as they will have been bought with t-shirts and food parcels, never questioning why their dire situation has not improved at all since 1994!
A parliament stacked with thieves from the ruling party will do everything to remain in power so that they can keep their privileges and continue looting!
“Never deal with a rascal under the expectation that you can prevent him from cheating you.”
—Hugh McCulloch
The real question should be:
Why are they not in jail yet?
With so many others.
The success or failure of a democracy is wholly dependent on the calibre of the electorate. When I consider how dismally ill-informed and disinterested the typical university student is (based on my own experience as a lecturer), I cannot be too optimistic about the upcoming election. The situation is no better (pehaps worse) in the US. The reasons people offer for supporting Donald Trump indicate how pathetically deplorable they are. Americans should have to pass the citizenship test given to imigrants in order to vote.
Not a great believer in miracles, I am silently hoping for one.