Frankly speaking: The leader of the ANC’s integrity committee Frank Chikane has urged the ANC to ensure the integrity of the party, particularly ahead of the general elections. Photo: Luba Lesolle/Getty Images
The ANC’s integrity committee will call on the national executive committee (NEC) for the step-aside resolution to include those implicated in wrongdoing, in addition to those facing criminal charges.
This could result in many of the ruling party’s members being sidelined in provincial and national legislatures.
In an interview with the Mail & Guardian, integrity committee head Frank Chikane said ANC members who had been referred to its disciplinary committee had failed to appear before the body.
At least 95 ANC leaders were implicated in the Zondo commission report on state capture.
The party took a decision that those implicated would be hauled before the integrity committee. But, in April, ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula announced that only five — including Gwede Mantashe, Zizi Kodwa, Thabang Makhwehla and Mosebenzi Zwane — had appeared.
Mbalula told a media briefing that those who had failed to appear before the body chaired by Chikane would be hauled before the disciplinary committee.
“The NEC made a decision to endorse the recommendation of the committee, that they be referred to the disciplinary committee. I don’t know what happened between April and now but none of them have appeared before the disciplinary committee,” Chikane said.
He said the integrity committee’s report to the NEC was clear that if the ANC failed to deal with those implicated in state capture, it would have problems during its nominations processes ahead of next year’s general elections.
“We are now nominating leaders to go to parliament and provincial administrations. If you don’t actually deal with these matters, people without integrity will find their way into the nomination list.
“The guidelines of the nomination process say where the committee has made a determination and the NEC has acted on it, that person can’t stand, can’t be nominated,” Chikane said.
The ANC has been holding branch general meetings, where party members will select their preferred candidates to represent the party in provincial legislatures as well as in the National Assembly. President Cyril Ramaphosa will select his cabinet from that list, should he be reelected next year.
Chikane said the ANC was at a “crisis point”, telling the M&G: “You are going to have people who have brought the organisation into disrepute appearing in the nomination list and that will bring the organisation into disrepute.”
The ANC stalwart said in his discussions with the party’s top officials, he emphasised that it was critical for it to regain the confidence of the electorate. Although the ANC had taken responsibility for failing to halt state capture, the party lacked the “capacity to act” on reports, Chikane added.
“Firstly, at an ANC level, if you’ve got the leadership that includes those people who are compromised, you get paralysis. Because you must start dealing with those who are with you there and then at the government level, you need a strong prosecution authority which was hollowed out, it was weakened, intelligence services taken over by the criminals.
“The question is why has it taken so long; here is a person, the committee has said this person committed a crime.”
Chikane took over the chair of the integrity committee in February, replacing George Mashamba.
Chikane said the committee has been firm and non-partisan in its task to address the moral decay in the party.
The ANC is expected to hold a special NEC meeting in November to discuss the integrity committee report where at least 90 recommendations by the body will be debated by the party’s highest decision-making structure between conferences.
“The guidelines say the committee makes decisions and recommends. If they don’t act, those people will stand for the elections and the ANC will lose its credibility, big time. And so they have a huge task in that special meeting. I’m looking forward to the outcome of that special meeting,” Chikane said.
Leaders who cared about the ANC and the people must step aside if compromised, he said.
“Leaders who care about the country and also care about the organisation should be able to say, ‘The accusation against me is bringing the organisation into disrepute [therefore] I’m going to step aside.’ Not the step-aside of the ANC. ‘I step aside until my matter is dealt with. I can’t sit here and let the ANC lose the elections in 2024.’
“That is what I expect from a leader who is self respecting,” Chikane said, adding that ANC leaders should not wait for criminal charges to be levied against them before stepping aside.
Election polling has suggested that the ANC will lose its majority in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, the two provinces with the biggest population.
The latest poll by the Brenthurst Foundation and the SABI Strategy Group suggested the governing party would take 43% of the vote nationally, should there be a high turnout, with the Democratic Alliance (DA) securing 25% and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) 16%.
The ANC’s national working committee has been racing against time to arrest the declining confidence of its leadership in both provinces, soliciting the help of its national heavyweights to intervene during its campaign season.
“Some of the cases we have seen are more about themselves. It’s: ‘Am I going to lose my job if the committee finds against me?’ It’s not about, ‘Is what I have done bringing the organisation into disrepute?’ Losing your job because of what the committee might say can’t be the primary focus of a leader. The primary focus of a leader would be, what about the integrity of the organisation, which is the people’s organisation?” Chikane said.
He said he had proposed to ANC officials that a barrier be placed to ensure a credible leadership. The integrity committee would make recommendations that NEC members implicated in wrongdoing must voluntarily step aside.
“My proposal was; why don’t we advise them to off-ramp at the nearest off-ramp? Get out. You don’t need to be asked. Just look for the nearest bush. Just off-ramp. Don’t make noise, ‘I’ve resigned from the NEC’ or ‘I’ve found something to do, I’m no more part of that’. That is what we need. I’ve said so and they know that.
“I think the message is clear; you don’t need to debate that matter. But if people insist on staying [in the NEC], then the process of the special NEC [meeting] will deal with that. I’m expecting in the next month or so that this matter will be resolved.”
Chikane said he was confident that the majority of the NEC members would agree with the committee.
“I’m saying of the 80 to 100 of the NEC, about 60% of them can make that decision. They can, but it depends on whether you are compromised or not. You see, if you know what I did and I know what you did, you can’t act against me and I can’t act against you because if I act against you you’re going to be exposed, so they balance each other and create a paralysis.
“What we are saying as a committee, if you allow the paralysis to persist then it means that you — now as the NEC — are bringing the party into disrepute. It’s no more individuals, it’s the structure and that is what they are grappling with,” he said.
Chikane said the NEC needed to be bold and make a decision to remove some members to save the party.
“You need to be prepared to lose some people,” he said, adding that the NEC should not be fearful of those with a powerful support base.
“The NEC must be bold enough to take a decision even if it means that some of them will be exposed if they’re compromised.
“Maybe it’s time for them as well to leave.
“You can’t sustain this. You can’t expect people to vote for a list of people where there is somebody they know is corrupt. That is my view and the committee has made it clear that the NEC has to act, if it fails then it itself brings the organisation into disrepute.”
Chikane said the committee, which includes Sue Rabkin, Cyril Jantjies, Smangaliso Mkhatshwa, Nkele Ntingane, Thandi Rankoe, Jenny Schreiner, James Ngculu and Len Rasekgatla, would overhaul its systems to make it more effective.
Part of the problem, he said, was that the committee waited for cases to be brought to them before summoning members.
He now plans to visit the provincial integrity committee, provincial and regional leaders as well as provincial legislatures.
“It’s not a matter of waiting until somebody does something wrong. But we are going to have to fix it so that everybody has a common understanding,” said Chikane.
“If you’ve done anything, that will bring this organisation into disrepute and just don’t stand. Keep away.”