- ANC national executive committee member Nkenke Kekana said the committee could not remove President Cyril Ramaphosa from office.
- Kekana, who is a key lobbyist for Paul Mashatile, said Ramaphosa must explain himself about the Phala Phala saga during a parliamentary process.
- ANC presidential candidate Zweli Mkhize is not expected to campaign for Ramaphosa’s removal from office.
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s main political rivals, Paul Mashatile and Zweli Mkhize, are expected to reject calls for their removal during a meeting of the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) on Monday.
A key Mashatile ally and lobbyist, Nkenke Kekana, said the NEC could not try to oust Ramaphosa and the president’s fate should be decided at the party conference.
The NEC had no jurisdiction to decide the issue on the basis of the Section 89 panel report on the Phala Phala farm’s allegations against the president, although there may be a case for him to respond.
Ramaphosa must seek to clear his name in the parliamentary process and must not be ousted as president so close to the party conference, he added. This sentiment was shared by those in the Mkhize camp.
“Dr Mkhize’s view is that the NEC would do well to defer the question of whether or not President Ramaphosa should be forced to resign, to the delegates who will meet in Nasrec in less than two weeks to decide.” said Mkhize’s communication adviser, Vuyo Mkhize.
Mkhize’s spokesman said that while he believed Ramaphosa should not be forced to resign, he would be guided by any decision the NEC makes.
READ | Phala Phala saga: Ramaphosa likely to outlive NEC, ANC MPs to be instructed to vote against report
Ramaphosa opened the meeting on Monday morning, but left soon after, saying he could not be present when his fate was discussed.
The ANC’s National Working Committee (NWC) ruled on Sunday that ANC MPs should not vote to adopt the Section 89 panel’s report, which would open the way for impeachment proceedings against Ramaphosa.
The matter is expected to be discussed intensively at the general meeting on Monday. Kekana told News24 that the ANC could not take action against the president on the basis of the Section 89 panel’s report.
He said:
The NEC is in no position to remove an incumbent chair, especially when we’re about to get to the conference, unless the integrity commission advises that the chair should step aside. Outside of that framework, Parliament’s mere report is only the beginning of a process that must be allowed to run its course.
Kekana added that he believed the ANC should work over the next two weeks to agree an unopposed leadership race.
“I am still confident that there is still a chance that we can meet. [so] that there is a conference without opposition. Provincial leaders can come together and come up with something that is acceptable to the conference and the conference reflects on it,” Kekana said in an interview with News24.
News24 understands that a meeting between Mashatile and Vice President David Mabuza in Johannesburg on Thursday, as Ramaphosa was pondering his resignation, scared his allies enough to convince him that his resignation would be “exactly what Paul wants.”
Then a seemingly one-sided decision by Mashatile to move a planned NEC from a virtual session on Thursday night to an in-person meeting on Friday, demonstrated to Ramaphosa’s allies that his resignation would mean “handing over the ANC to DD (Mabuza) and Paul to do whatever they want with him.”
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Mashatile, who wields enormous power as treasurer-general, acting secretary-general and acting under-secretary-general, is vying for the ANC vice-presidency at the conference, which is expected to start on December 16.
But those around him have hinted that given the Phala Phala scandal involving Ramaphosa and the Digital Vibes scandal involving Mkhize, Mashatile could make a last-minute bid for the ANC chairmanship.
Kekana said there were a lot of “rumors and distortions” about Mashatile in the lead up to the conference.
Kekana said:
According to the Constitution, and not by Paul’s design, if the President resigns, the Constitution section kicks in, the Vice President takes office, and the Cabinet stays. In a hypothetical situation, it would mean that 14 days before the conference there would be a new president.
He added that there was a case for Ramaphosa to answer and that he should face a parliamentary process in that regard. “We can’t use emotions, we can’t use our historical dislike for the president to make a political decision,” he said.
Kekana also said the ANC integrity commission report on the Phala Phala affair should set the tone for a party decision. That report, as well as a report on the fate of Mkhize, must be considered by the conference before voting for the ANC chairmanship, he added.
“The reports of the integrity commission will be presented to the NEC as close to the conference. They could be brought to the conference itself so they become part of the debate on this very question of who can present.
“It may be too late for the ANC to consider the reports. The integrity commission is the only mechanism the NEC has to intervene when it comes to the president’s matter,” Kekana said.
He added that it would be in the ANC’s interest to have an unopposed leadership race at the national conference.
He said:
Allowing the faction leaders to determine the outcome of the conference will kill the ANC. It will really destroy the ability of the ANC to fight an election because there will be a disintegration as factions often do.
Mkhize’s camp said Ramaphosa should not be forced to resign and should be given a chance to clear his name in Parliament.
“It would be a big surprise if the NEC decided to scuttle this process, especially since it itself has previously asked the president to do exactly what the Section 89 panel report recommends,” Vuyo Mkhize said.
He is expected to argue at the ANC meeting that he, too, underwent parliamentary process and was cleared by the legislature regarding the allegations he faced.
