ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula. (OJ Koloti/Gallo Images)
ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula has reiterated that “nobody is let off the hook” regarding party members implicated in state capture, despite their names being on its elections candidates list.
The ANC held a media briefing on Monday on its list of party members destined for parliament and provincial legislatures after this year’s general elections. This follows a dramatic weekend in which the names of candidates were leaked on social media, including that of President Cyril Ramaphosa and his ID number.
The Electoral Committee of South Africa (IEC) said on Sunday that one of its agents had leaked the document, and committed to a full investigation.
Among those implicated in graft are ANC chair and Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe and David Mahlobo, the deputy minister of water and sanitation.
Explaining the party’s position on those implicated in state capture, Mbalula said the ANC was following its processes and had not tried to sweep the issue under the carpet, explaining that this was being addressed by the national executive committee (NEC).
“We have had 20 people appear at the Zondo commission [on state capture] from NEC members who retired [but] some of whom are serving. Of those 20, we have six who appear on the ANC 2024 candidate list and each one of them has been attended to. Nobody is let off the hook in terms of these matters,” he said.
The ANC has struggled to regain the confidence of South Africans after several officials, including former president Jacob Zuma, were placed at the centre of the state capture which hollowed out key state institutions. Ramaphosa once wrote to the party’s membership labelling the ANC as accused number one in corruption.
The ANC’s candidates list for the elections was seen as a litmus test of whether the ruling party’s renewal project was gaining traction.
On Monday, Mbalula insisted it was not true to suggest that the party was doing nothing about the report from the state capture commission chaired by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo. He said the ANC would act when those implicated had been arrested.
“In our list, we had people who were on the step-aside, they were not allowed on the list. We had people who had criminal records and they were taken off the list,” he said.
“The comrades who appeared at Zondo and there were adverse findings against them in the integrity commission, the rule says no one will be eligible to stand if they have got adverse findings in the integrity commission and those findings are confirmed by the NEC.”
The ANC’s step-aside rule compels party members who have been criminally charged to relinquish their party positions pending their acquittal.
Mbalula said if the NEC endorsed the findings of the party’s integrity commission against an individual standing as a public representative “the matter will be reassessed”.
The party’s electoral committee, which is charged with overseeing the vetting process, issued guidelines, including that the list should consist of 50% women and have a significant youth representation.
Electoral committee chairperson Kgalema Motlanhte said its vetting process had been a worthy exercise “in the sense that it ensured that the rigour necessary to select nominees who will no doubt add value in parliament”.
He said the electoral committee does not make any definitive findings against people facing allegations of corruption and could therefore not exclude those implicated in graft or wrongdoing from the list.
Motlanthe explained that the committee’s role was to make recommendations, which would be adopted or rejected by the NEC.
He insisted that the party did not seek to undermine the work of the Zondo commission, saying some of it still needed to be processed by the National Prosecuting Authority, the Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigation and other authorities.