An internal ANC team tasked to process recommendations of the state capture commission report that implicate the party and its deployees has begun its work but is yet to issue a verdict on any party officials.
The task team, led by former cabinet minister and ANC policy head Jeff Radebe, is expected to present its findings and a discussion paper on how to prevent corruption and state capture to the party’s leadership in April.
The team presented recommendations to the national executive committee (NEC) this past weekend, including referring matters relating to implicated members to the party’s integrity commission and the renewal commission. The two bodies were tasked with implementing President Cyril Ramaphosa’s reform agenda after a series of corruption scandals under his predecessor, Jacob Zuma.
The integrity commission has no implementation powers, but rather presents its recommendations to the NEC, the party’s highest decision-making body between conferences, which has the authority to implement or dismiss the recommendations.
The commission’s previous recommendations that former health minister Zweli Mkhize and secretary-general Ace Magashule step aside from their respective government and party positions in line with the party’s congress resolutions, were however adopted by the NEC.
The state capture report, released in February, found that the ANC as the governing party and some of its senior members, including chair Gwede Mantashe, played a central role in the state capture project. Business Day previously reported that the NEC recommended that all those implicated in the state capture report, including Mantashe, appear before the integrity commission.
“They did present how they [Radebe-led team] are going to do their work ... the committee has not come out with a verdict on anybody yet,” said ANC treasurer-general Paul Mashatile during a post-NEC media briefing on Monday.
Mashatile said the NEC’s three-day meeting, which ended on Sunday, also appointed cabinet minister Thoko Didiza to head its renewal commission. The renewal commission aims to position the party to win back its leading role, he said. Other members of the committee are Naledi Pandor, Joel Netshitenzhe and Zingiswa Losi.
“The commission will be responsible for making recommendations to the 55th National Conference on a Vision 2032 describing the desired state of the ANC as it approaches its 120th year of existence,” Mashatile said.
The NEC recommended that its national officials, including Ramaphosa, handle the implications of the conviction of former cabinet minister and ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) president Bathabile Dlamini, who was recently found guilty of perjury.
Dlamini’s conviction makes her an ideal candidate to step aside from her position in the party as per party rules. The national officials have, however, not requested Dlamini to step aside because they have not yet discussed the matter.
“There are some matters that should be dealt differently.... We are not delaying [and] if the president was around we would’ve met today. We’re not treating comrade Bathabile’s case as special,” Mashatile said.
The ANCWL is scheduled to hold its conferences in 2022 before the party’s policy conference in June. It has, however, been required to request support from the mother body after a report presented to the NEC showed that it is unable to pay salaries and some regions were underperforming and unable to convene meetings in preparation for its conference.
The NEC has given the green light to the Western Cape, Gauteng and the North West to hold their elective conferences between May and June. Elective conferences in Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape will be held in April.
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