Johannesburg – ANC KwaZulu-Natal provincial secretary Bheki Mtolo said President Cyril must do the right thing and not allow the Phala Phala scandal to go to court or Parliament.
Mtolo was speaking after the adjournment of the special NEC meeting held at Nasrec, south of Johannesburg, on Friday.
The reason for the adjournment by ANC treasurer-general and acting secretary general, Paul Mashatile, was that the report should first go to the NWC (national working committee) officials and NEC as a matter of urgency.
Bheki Mtolo Anc KZN secretary is calling for Ramaphosa to do the right thing and not allow this matter to drag via courts or parliament. @TheStar_news @IOL pic.twitter.com/isMmsmzZch
He also announced that Ramaphosa wasn’t attending the meeting because he was in Cape Town busy consulting.
Mtolo said the meeting was a waste of time for them and South Africans at large.
The meeting was called to address the Phala Phala report, in an urgent manner, a day after Ramaphosa postponed an announcement which many thought would be his decision to resign as head of state.
On Wednesday, retired Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo’s three-member independent Section 89 Panel found that Ramaphosa had violated his oath of office in handling the break-in and theft of a huge amount of money in US dollars at his Phala Phala game farm.
Mtolo said as the ANC in KZN, they trusted that Ramaphosa would do the right thing for the country and for himself.
“Ramaphosa must take the right decision. The (matter) mustn’t drag on until 2024. The ANC can’t afford to go with this thing, either in court or Parliament,” Mtolo said.
It would be best for Ramaphosa to do the right thing, and not to say he didn’t think it wasn’t a crisis.
Mtolo said he didn’t work on rumours but was waiting for a report on the matter. Until then, he wouldn’t be drawn to comment.
Some NEC members have called on Ramaphosa to step aside, but Mtolo said as the ANC is KZN, they didn’t believe in the step-aside resolution.
Mtolo said the adjournment was unprecedented, because they thought they were called to a special NEC meeting where officials had sat and reflected on the matter so that the NWC could make recommendations to the NEC.
But when they came in, they discovered that those processes hadn’t been followed and the meeting had to adjourn.
“This was a waste of time, simply put. South Africans are waiting for the ANC to review and to give direction now. We said this must be addressed urgently, because on Monday there is a caucus meeting in Parliament and this report must go to Parliament on (Tuesday) 6 December, 2022,” Mtolo said.
Reacting to the non-attendance by Ramaphosa, Mtolo said there was mismanagement in the handling of mthis matter.
Mtolo said the state of the provincial ANC was good. It ran almost 4 000 branches that were going to the ANC 55th National Conference taking place in two weeks.
He also dismissed reports that there was any contradiction between the chairperson and the treasurer-general.
There were reports recently that KZN had made a U-turn in supporting Mashatile for the deputy president position. Mtolo told journalists that Mashatile would meet delegates next week.
Mtolo said he was confident that their presidential candidate, Dr Zweli Mkhize, would close the conference as the party’s president.
He said majority of delegates would vote for Mkhize.
Judge Ngcobo handed the three-volume report after 10am to Parliament Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, who then told a press briefing that the electronic version of it would be published via ATC, which is the Parliament’s system to publish documents of public interest.
The report states: “In light of all the information placed before the panel, we conclude that this information discloses, prima facie, that the President may have committed:
A serious violation of sections 96(2)(a).
A serious violation of section 34(1) of PRECCA.
A serious misconduct in that the President violated section 96(2)(b) by acting in a way that is inconsistent with his office.
A serious misconduct in that the President violated section 96(2)(b) by exposing himself to a situation involving a conflict between his official responsibilities and his private business of the Constitution.
ntombi.nkosi@inl.co.za
The Star