ANC split over call to hunt rebel MPs

Key ANC provinces remained split on Monday on whether to punish errant MPs who voted in favour of President Jacob Zuma’s removal in last week’s motion of no confidence.

The motion, introduced in the National Assembly by the opposition DA, was narrowly thwarted 198 to 177. There were nine abstentions.

But despite the victory, the ANC has gone into panic mode, as more than 34 of its MPs are thought to have voted with the opposition against its leader.

Zuma expressed his anger at the revolt during a rally on Sunday and pledged to table his concerns at Monday’s scheduled national working committee meeting of the party.

He insisted a provision in the ANC’s constitution that bars members from collaborating against the party should be applied to the MPs.

At the weekend, the ANC’s treasurer-general, Zweli Mkhize, said "in principle", the defiant parliamentarians should face disciplinary action.

Monday’s national working committee meeting continued into the night.

It was not clear whether the issue was discussed or not. Calls to committee members went unanswered on Monday night.

Earlier in the day, Zuma’s staunchest allies, KwaZulu-Natal chairman Sihle Zikalala and his Free State counterpart Ace Magashule, urged the party’s officials to convene a special leadership meeting to discuss taking disciplinary action against those who voted for Zuma’s removal.

In contrast, Limpopo and Mpumalanga, seen as anti-Zuma provinces in the ANC factional battle, said the unity of the ANC was "sacrosanct" and urged the party "not to engage in a witch-hunt" against those who voted with the opposition.

In a joint statement after a meeting of their top brass on Monday, the provinces — led by chairmen Stanley Mathabatha and David Mabuza — said the ANC should rather engage with members to "restore organisational discipline".

Mathabatha is said to be a prominent supporter of Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa in the succession battle for the ANC presidency.

The ANC allies also weighed in on the issue.

South African Communist Party general secretary Blade Nzimande said at the weekend that the ANC should focus on fighting corruption instead of embarking on the witch-hunt.

Addressing a gathering in the Northern Cape, he said his organisation was worried about the ANC if its primary task was to target people who voted in favour of the motion.

Cosatu appealed to the ANC to work on its unity and that of the alliance. Purging dissenters in its ranks will see the ANC falling into the trap of divide and rule that served the apartheid regime so well for so long," Cosatu spokesman Sizwe Pamla said.

He said the calls for action against "the rebels" pointed to a frightening emergence of a "populist demagoguery" within the ranks of the alliance.

Zuma allies are targeting MPs Makhosi Khoza, Derek Hanekom and Pravin Gordhan

It remains unclear how the party would identify those who voted against Zuma since the vote was a secret ballot.

But Magashule said this did not prevent action being taken against those who had been in open opposition to Zuma.

"We cannot talk about MPs voting in secret because even today, there are those talking and tweeting about their positions," he said.

Zuma allies are targeting MPs Makhosi Khoza, Derek Hanekom and Pravin Gordhan, who publicly said they would vote with their conscience.

Magashule said it was clear there were people who "wanted to be pushed out of the ANC".

He called for further investigation and harsh action against those who voted against Zuma.

Zuma supporters in the ANC Women’s League, the ANC Youth League as well as the Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association have called for stern action against MPs who did not toe the party line.

The Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution said on Monday that retribution against MPs would be inconsistent with the law.

Director Lawson Naidoo warned that such action was not only an attack on individual MPs but also on the Constitution.