No, thanks: Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, who has served under four presidents since the advent of democracy, is one of the more than 20 veteran MPs who are stepping down. Photo: Esa Alexander/Gallo Images
More than 20 long-serving ANC members are expected to follow in the footsteps of Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma and decline nomination to return to parliament and the legislatures after this year’s national and provincial elections.
Dlamini Zuma, who has served since the first democratic parliament in 1994, wrote to the party’s electoral committee last week saying that she would be retiring from parliamentary politics.
The Mail & Guardian understands that as many as 24 people who were nominated by ANC branches have declined and will not be part of the list being placed before the national executive committee (NEC) when it meets to discuss deployments on 26 January.
According to the Parliamentary Monitoring Group figures, the ANC had 11 redeployments or resignations going into the 2019 vote.
The three-day NEC meeting will be followed by a two-day lekgotla, at which the list process is expected to be finalised.
ANC electoral committee secretary Livhuwani Matsila said apart from Dlamini Zuma, there were “a few” other people on this year’s national list who had indicated they would not be standing for MP positions.
Matsila said some of them “may have been in parliament since 1994” and “might want to rest”.
He added that there was nothing untoward about people declining to serve as ANC MPs because the process allowed them to either accept or decline the nomination.
Political analyst Ralph Mathekga said the rejection of nomination was a sign the party was becoming a liability, even to its own members.
“Declining nomination is actually saying Brand ANC is a problem, it’s becoming a reputational risk to its own members.
“You can imagine how it’s going to look to people who are being asked to trust the ANC, to vote for it, while members of the party did not want to be linked to Brand ANC.”
Dlamini Zuma wrote to ANC electoral committee chair Kgalema Motlanthe and the party’s secretary general, Fikile Mbalula, saying that she had taken a decision to retire from parliament.
Since 1994, she has served under former presidents Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma, as well as the current head of state, Cyril Ramaphosa.
While major changes are expected in the ANC’s national list, a shake-up is also taking place in the provinces.
In KwaZulu-Natal, the initial lists show chairperson Siboniso Duma tops the province, followed by deputy chair Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu and deputy secretary Sipho Hlomuka.
The premier, Nomusa Dube-Ncube, is number 31 on the initial list, a clear indication that Duma, the leader of government business, is set to become premier should the ANC make it over the line in the elections.
Corruption-accused former Durban mayor Zandile Gumede, who was moved to the provincial legislature after her arrest in 2018, did not make the provincial list as a result of the step-aside rule implemented by the province.
The ANC Veterans’ League is calling for the 97 party members implicated in the Zondo commission’s state capture report not to be included on national list but is likely to face serious pushback from those who have been accused but have yet to be criminally charged.
The league is of the view that none of those who were referred to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), and for further police investigation, in the state capture report should be eligible for nomination as public representatives in provincial legislatures and parliament.
The league believes that voters will only take the ANC’s stated intention to renew itself seriously if it bars those featuring in the state capture report from standing.
The party’s rules are that only those who have been criminally charged should step aside from their positions until their names are cleared.
If the league has its way, heavyweights such as national chair and Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe, ANC deputy secretary general Nomvula Mokonyane, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Zizi Kodwa, Deputy Defence Minister Thabang Makwetla, Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation David Mahlobo and other former ministers and current ANC MPs would not be eligible to stand for public office.
Veterans league deputy president Mavuso Msimang — who resigned from the ANC before being persuaded to return late last year — has been seconded to the electoral committee, along with Mac Maharaj.
The two were meant to have met the rest of the team on 20 December but this did not happen.
The veterans are expected to formally table this issue at the NEC next week. They are understood to be of the view that the ANC should act against those who did not appear before the party’s integrity commission using its disciplinary committee.
ANC national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said the NEC would sit for three days from 26 to 28 January and the 97 party members who were implicated in state capture would be discussed.
Matsila said the party’s step-aside rule should not be undermined but the ANC encouraged those who had been accused to voluntarily go to the integrity commission.
He gave the example of Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande, who had volunteered to appear before the commission to defend himself against accusations made by the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa).
Outa released voice recordings of two meetings between National Student Financial Aid Scheme board chairperson Ernest Khosa and a service provider representative, revealing how millions of rand were allegedly paid to Nzimande and Khosa in kickbacks for tenders.
“This is encouraged, instead of sitting and waiting to be summoned,” Matsila said.
ANC Youth League president Collen Malatji said because South Africa was a constitutional democracy, the NPA should fast-track charging those implicated in state capture, so they could clear their names.
“They have black clouds hanging over their heads and sometimes they are not even guilty.
“People came to testify at the Zondo commission but most of the things have never been tested in the courts of law,” Malatji told the M&G.
“If they are charged, they know they have to step aside.
“Right now, it is a moral issue if they feel that they need to clear their names first.
“They can step aside, and not stand for public office, but if they feel they are innocent, and they are not charged with any crime, they also have a right to stand.”