The ANC has vowed to continue tightening guidelines governing its step-aside rule to protect the party’s integrity and ensure that those facing criminal charges do not find refuge in the party.
The decision to disqualify those who have been criminally charged from contesting party leadership positions was taken during the party’s special national executive committee meeting held from April 24-25.
Previously, the ANC’s step-aside rule stated that those facing corruption or criminal charges have to step aside from their positions, but it was not explicit that they must be disqualified from contesting for positions.
This enabled corruption-accused Zandile Gumede to run in, and win, the race to be regional chair of the party in eThekwini, making her a power broker in KwaZulu-Natal, the biggest ANC province.
Earlier in April, Mandla Msibi, who faces murder and attempted murder charges, was elected treasurer at the ANC’s Mpumalanga elective conference.
In a media briefing in Johannesburg on Thursday to announce the outcomes of the special national executive committee meeting, ANC treasurer Paul Mashatile said the party was not yet done with amending the step-aside rule.
It was agreed that the ANC’s top officials should continue to use a fine-tooth comb to identify loopholes.
Mashatile said tightening the step-aside rule was inevitable as the party prepared for its policy conference to be held later this year. There was nothing suspicious about the timing of the amendment — “I think the timing is OK”.
Business Day has reported that some in the ANC wanted to have the step-aside rule suspended, arguing that it was a ploy to ban some of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s political opponents from challenging him at the party’s national elective conference in December.
Mashatile said: “It’s not true that we are making this decision to prevent so and so [from contesting] ... This is about the ANC, not about individuals. Here we are protecting the organisation, not ourselves.”
He said the public was not happy that “the ANC allows people who are charged to lead them. We can choose to protect our friends or choose the people. The national executive committee decided to choose the people”.
Gumede, a Zuma ally, was elected to the powerful position in KwaZulu-Natal despite having been forced to step aside as mayor of the eThekwini metro in 2019 after being charged with fraud, corruption, racketeering and contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act linked to a R300m contract.
Mashatile said the decision to close the loophole in the step-aside rule was not retrospective: “It affects the future, not the past. We are going to apply it in future.”
He said the party was moving towards a policy conference and it was “inevitable that there are going to be debates on a number of positions ... we did take this [tightening of step-aside rule] to branches. It was a big issue.”
Mashatile said all national executive committee decisions would be discussed by ANC branches, including the step-aside issue. When the ANC adopted the step-aside guidelines in 2021, “we said it’s a living document ... [and is] not cast in stone”. There had been debates in the public arena about members of the ANC who stepped aside but are accepting nominations for leadership positions. The ANC had to relook at that issue.
“We then agreed that when a member steps aside voluntarily, [they] should not make themselves available to be elected in positions. The decision was taken to close that gap. Now we have made it explicit ... that once you step aside you should not accept nomination to any position,” Mashatile said.
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