Riyaz Patel
The EFF says it’s “with great disenchantment” that it has has received the resignations of its former MPs, Tebogo Mokwele and Nkagisang Mokgosi, but, at the same time, applauded them for their “confessions.”
The two MPs resigned from Parliament and the political party’s central command over funds received from Cyril Ramaphosa’s CR17 ANC presidential campaign
A damning leak of bank statements allegedly linked to the campaign flooded into the public domain late last week.
The financial statements show a number of payments to politicians, including Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula, Deputy Minister of State Security Zizi Kodwa, Minister of Small Business Development Khumbudzo Ntshavheni and the now-former EFF MP Mokwele.
On Monday, Mokwele said her resignation followed “a deep and careful introspection about the impact of my association with the president of the ANC and the republic, in which there was an exchange of money for my personal use; a total of R80 000 between 2017 and 2019.“
An EFF statement released Tuesday stated that: “We applaud them for their confessions and the consequent taking of responsibility by giving up positions of leadership,” it reads.
Though the statement intimates that their “confessions” are recent, Mokwele said Monday morning that the EFF leadership was informed about the payments prior to the leaks.
Fielding questions from journalist Stephen Grootes on SAFM on Tuesday morning, Mokwele said adamantly that “I did. I did tell my leadership,” when she was asked if she declared receipt of the funds to her party leadership at the time the payments were first received.
Grootes then asked why she was only resigning now, if she had told them at the time. She responded that she did not want to bring the party into disrepute.
The EFF statement added that the party could learn from Mokwele and Mokgosi.
“We must learn to confide within the safe keep of the revolution, lest we fall prey to the enemy camp as they did. No amount of personal suffering must lead a revolutionary into the enemy camp; the enemy will always use this to achieve their own objectives against our cause.”
It concludes: “We reiterate our call on all other fighters, in and outside the leadership, who may have benefited in any way financially from the CR17 campaign. We plead on them to take the EFF leadership into confidence and subject themselves to the discipline of our revolution.”
