NC national executive committee (NEC) members Zweli Mkhize and Bathabile Dlamini have made it into the list of party leaders destined for parliament, despite being implicated in corruption.
ANC national executive committee (NEC) members Zweli Mkhize, Bathabile Dlamini and Gwede Mantashe and eThekwini regional chairperson Zandile Gumede have made it into the list of party leaders destined for parliament, despite being implicated in corruption.
Insiders who attended the ruling party’s NEC meeting on Monday said Mkhize appeared second on the list of province to national candidates, while Dlamini was voted fourth on the same list.
The Mail & Guardian understands that Gumede was also on the list of individuals who are in the safe zone of party leaders destined for parliament.
The safe zone refers to the 130 party members on the list who are likely to be ANC MPs and could also be chosen by President Cyril Ramaphosa to be part of his executive.
The revelation of the ANC list could spell trouble for the party which has previously committed to not having compromised individuals included in parliament or provincial legislatures.
In December last year, after consultation with party veteran Mavuso Msimang, secretary general Fikile Mbalula released a statement that the ANC leadership would act with urgency to address the unethical behaviour and ill-discipline of its members, including leaders themselves.
“We are determined that 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 [on state capture] will not be included in our lists if their names have not been cleared by the ANC integrity commission,” Mbalula said at the time.
According to insiders, other compromised individuals on the list include Andile Lungisa — who served a prison sentence for assaulting Democratic Alliance councillor Rano Kayser — and Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Zizi Kodwa.
On the list: Gwede Mantashe
Khusela Diko, Nonceba Mhlauli, Joy Maimela, Supra Mahumapelo and Zuko Godlimpi have also made the cut but are not implicated in wrongdoing.
Sources told the M&G that those who did not make the list include Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga, Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu and Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan.
The integrity commission picked apart Kodwa’s attempt to defend himself over his involvement with a former executive of tech company EOH, and called him a liar. The report said Kodwa, who was deputy intelligence minister at the time, had appeared three times before the commission and each time he had tried to justify unjustifiable conduct.
“His relationship with [EOH executive Jehan] Mackay and [businessman Edwin] Sodi has brought the ANC into disrepute. Zizi was found to be dishonest and lied to the IC [integrity commission]. He has denied the existence of the ethical framework, which was distributed to all NEC members. He has accepted a huge loan/gift, which does not seem to have any repayment arrangements,” the report stated.
“Since the IC first engaged with Zizi in 2019, he continues to abrogate ethical values to [an] unbridled desire for material wealth or even just personal interest, making him very vulnerable to a range of hostile and dangerous forces.”
While holding an influential position as ANC spokesperson and NEC member, Kodwa benefited from payments totalling more than R1.7 million, including a “loan” for the purchase of a Jeep that he bought on 6 June 2015.
EOH-related entities and Mackay made cash payments amounting to R1.68 million to Kodwa and another R30 000 for his benefit from 2 February 2014 to 28 April 2015.
Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, who chaired the state capture commission, described this as an attempt by Mackay to manipulate his relationship with Kodwa to distort public procurement practices.
Kodwa told the commission that the R1 million was a loan, but the transaction reference on the business statement for the account from which it was paid described the payment as “NG Kodwa (ANC Dona-JM)”.
In August 2022, the M&G reported that the integrity commission, in its annual report tabled by its head George Mashamba, was unequivocal in recommending that the NEC suspend former health minister Mkhize until the Digital Vibes corruption matter in which he is implicated is resolved.
Still hanging about: Zandile Gumede with Fikile Mbalula. Photo: X
This was after the M&G reported a year earlier that the integrity commission had recommended that Mkhize step aside from his position, but the NEC failed to act on the ruling.
“His association with Digital Vibes and corruption are seriously damaging the organisation,” the commission’s annual report stated.
At the height of his popularity during the Covid-19 hard lockdown, Mkhize found himself in the middle of the Digital Vibes corruption scandal involving some of his closest associates and family members. A Special Investigating Unit (SIU) report said Mkhize ignored a cabinet resolution on the health department’s National Health Insurance and the Covid-19 communications strategy and paid out R150 million to his “close associates” Tahera Mather and Naadhira Mitha.
Mather was Mkhize’s spokesperson and was part of his campaign to be elected ANC president in December 2017 at the party’s Nasrec conference. Mkhize filed a high court application to review and set aside the SIU’s findings against him.
Gumede — who recently returned to active politics with the blessing of ANC’s top leaders — had been forced to step aside after she was charged in 2019 for, among other things, fraud, corruption and racketeering relating to a R320 million Durban Solid Waste tender.
She is accused of personally receiving R2 881 350 in kickbacks for ensuring predetermined businesses benefited from city waste contracts. The state has further accused the ANC eThekwini region leader of receiving a R100 000 “donation” from three of Gumede’s co-accused. The trial is still sitting.
Dlamini, the former minister of social development, was found guilty of perjury for lying under oath about her role in the 2018 South African Social Security Agency grant payments debacle during an inquiry. She was handed a four-year prison sentence or the option of the fine, which included two years suspended, or a R100 000 fine suspended. Dlamini was thereafter elected in the NEC.
In the third part of the state capture commission’s report, Zondo said that upon further investigation, authorities were likely to find evidence that Mantashe was corrupt in dealings with logistics company Bosasa, which paid for upgrades to his home when he was secretary general of the ANC.
Mantashe, who took the report on review, said there was no prima facie case or evidence against him in the report and therefore he would not step aside from his ANC position.