ANC Treasure-General Paul Mashatile has confirmed that the party’s national executive committee (NEC) would meet on Sunday to discuss the explosive Phala Phala report.
The party initially scheduled the meeting for Friday, but it was later adjourned after NEC members called for President Cyril Ramaphosa to be present during the deliberations.
Mashatile said the NEC members wanted the top officials and the National Working Committee (NWC) to meet to process the Phala Phala report prepared by the independent panel of experts led by former Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo.
He said once the top officials have met and deliberated on the report, the NEC will then be briefed on Sunday.
“The report must be given to officials first, once they process the report, convene an NWC, and only then go to an NEC meeting. We should do this before the 6th of December. Between Saturday and Sunday, we will do all that. The NEC decided not to meet today,” Mashatile said.
ANC NEC member Tandi Mahambehlala said the meeting couldn’t even start because the national chairperson Gwede Mantashe, and Mashatile gave contradicting reports on the whereabouts of President Cyril Ramaphosa.
“There were mixed feelings. The contradictions between the National Chairperson and the TG in addressing the issue of the absence of the President. It created the situation that let us not starting the meeting,” Mahambehlala said.
“A deployee of the ANC has to come so that everyone is given counsel where is needed. To raise what we need to raise, if we are to criticize, we do so constructively in the presence of the deployee, but unfortunately he was not in the meeting and with all the different reports tabled by the TG and National Chairperson on the accounts of why the President was not in the meeting created a problem.”
The ANC is “in a dilemma”, said Mahambehlala, adding that she was confident that the leadership will prevail and eventually ‘go to Parliament to give members of Parliament marching orders on this issue’.
Mahambehlala said NEC member Nomvula Mokonyane was vindicated when she said that the current ANC NEC was the weakest.
Meanwhile, ANC KwaZulu-Natal secretary Bheki Mtolo said he expected Ramaphosa to make a decision and “do the right thing”.
“Not step aside, some of us do not believe in that principle and we are not going to say because it’s Ramaphosa, we now believe in it. This is the position of KZN.”
“Stepping aside is not moving away from your position. We believe he must take the right decision,” said Mtolo.
He said a right decision is one that will ensure this “thing must not drag until 2024”, because in his view, the ANC cannot afford to be continuously fighting in Parliament and in court.
On NEC failing to meeting on Friday, Mtolo was quick to say that there appeared to have been a “mismanagement of the whole process”.
He conceeded that former President Thabo Mbeki was correct in saying the ANC needed to have prepared for “the eventuality” of the Phala Phala matter.
ANC Chief whip Pemmy Majodina said deployees in Parliament will be expected to follow a party line.
She said once the NEC take a decision, all ANC members of Parliament will follow the directives of the party.
Ealier, ANC member of Parliament Supra Mahumapelo told the media that he will, just like NEC member Derek Hanekom, use his conscience to vote in the National Assembly.
Asked as to what she thinks about the president consulting in Cape Town, coordinator of the ANC Youth League national youth task team (NYTT), Joy Maimela said it would be ‘unorganisational’ for the President to do so.
“The President is the deployee of the ANC, and we expected him to firstly come consult with officials and then NEC. We have not received official confirmation- it’s only allegations but if it is true, it will be very unorganisational. It doesn’t reflect renewal that we speak about.”
“South Africans are waiting for direction. It’s actually uncold for that as a structure (NEC), we can’t give direction,” Maimela said.
ANC Gauteng secretary Thembinkosi TK Nciza said the province will only comment after the NEC meeting.
“Lets allow the meeting to take place. The President is not here, he raised his views but the meeting felt that President should be in the meeting. And we agree with that view,” Nciza said.
Political analyst Professor Bheki Mngomezulu said the NEC failed to provide leadership.
“The President is not like you and who has to go online to check availability of flights, he could always fly back from Cape Town to Johannesburg. The question is if the President was in Cape Town and the meeting needed him, he could have cancelled everything.
“So if a person had a question, were they going to call him in Cape Town and ask a question? It doesn’t make sense and that is why they are giving mixed messages. The concern is genuine, ” said Mngomezulu.
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