ANC top brass call for the disbandment of the integrity committee
The ANC’s integrity committee has shaken some feathers, and the implicated portion of the party’s leadership in questionable things has called for its immediate disbandment.
As reported by the Sunday Times, the party’s secretary-general, Ace Magashule, told the media on Friday that the ANC would be locked in an all-weekend meeting to dissect the recommendations made in the committee’s report.
What were the findings in the integrity committee report?
It is believed that a total of 23 ANC senior leaders have been asked by the George Mashamba-led committee to step aside. This request, it is said, has launched a ripple of disgruntlement across the party’s factions.
The implicated officials were given an opportunity to plead their case in front of the committee. Deputy President, David Mabuza, excused himself from the Member of Parliament swearing-in ceremony to attend to the committee.
His engagement granted him leave from allegations that he had placed the image of the party into disrepute, and in a week, the man everyone loves to hate was back in his seat as President Cyril Ramaphosa’s second-in-command.
Why are leaders calling for the committee’s disbandment?
Many other officials followed Mabuza’s approach. However, not all were granted the leniency he supposedly received.
Insiders have leaked information that a revolt will take the next special national executive committee (NEC) meeting hostage.
The call is for the committee’s mandate to be stricken off and for every implicated member in the report to be exonerated of all allegations.
The committee itself is not the highest decision-making body in the ANC — the NEC is. The former was only created to sustain the liberalist image of the party.
It can only make recommendations to the NEC, who, based on the committee’s findings, will enact those that reach consensus with all parties involved.
“The special NEC held a preliminary discussion on these matters and agreed to take these discussions forward in the next meeting of the NEC. The NEC was satisfied that the integrity commission met with everyone and accept that this is work in progress,” Magashule said.