Struggle stalwart Mavuso Msimang has returned to the ANC's fold less than a month after he quit the party citing governance failures and “endemic” corruption.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula says Msimang, who also served as the deputy president of the ANC's Veterans League, had agreed to withdraw his resignation after a meeting on Tuesday, where the parties ironed out issues.
Msimang quit the ANC, a party he had served for six decades, on Wednesday last week. He said he had been shown a video clip of Mbalula addressing an ANC rally on Sunday. “In this clip he accuses me of having accepted a bribe in order to join the party of Mr Roger Jardine,” said Msimang, the erstwhile deputy president of the ANC Veterans League.
“Well, first of all I have not joined any party, and second it’s insulting to suggest that I accepted a bribe. Another deliberate lie of Mbalula’s is that I announced my resignation from ANC through the media. He knows very well that around 3.50pm on December 6, I sent an email to himself and to his PA, exclusively at Luthuli House.”
In a statement on Thursday, Mbalula said he “regrets that he made comments that impugned the integrity of Cde Msimang, suggesting that he was vulnerable to taking a bribe from a newly established political formation, or, for that matter, any other source”.
Mbalula further said the ANC had resolved that only candidates that are “beyond reproach” would be considered to represent the party in parliament and provincial legislatures after next year's general election.
This has been a bone of contention between Mbalula and the Veterans League in the run up to the conclusion of the ANC's list processes. The Veterans League, led by Snuki Zikalala, has called for members implicated in corruption or state capture to be excluded as candidates for parliament and the legislature.
“Only members whose reputations are beyond reproach will be included in our list of candidates for parliament and provincial legislatures. This means that those implicated by the Zondo Commission will not be included in our lists if their names have not been cleared by the ANC Integrity Commission,” the party said in a statement.
Chief justice Raymond Zondo, who chaired the state capture commission, has said the ANC, parliament and the government failed to take action to halt state capture, while President Cyril Ramaphosa has previously said the ANC is “accused number one” in corruption.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.