RANJENI MUNUSAMY: Cyril Ramaphosa has to watch his back as officials jockey for position
Erratic internal moves regarding ANC’s parliamentary appointments show that the situation in the party remains fluid, hazardous and unpredictable
Extract
Is there anything more exhausting than the internal politics of the ANC? Just when everyone was settling into a post-election hiatus, looking ahead to the establishment of a streamlined new government, a fresh commotion erupted in the party.
On Monday, ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule announced the new presiding officers in parliament and revealed that Nomvula Mokonyane would take up the influential position of “chair of chairs” in the National Assembly.
Mokonyane has been doubly shamed with a truly awful track record as a minister and is facing serious allegations of corruption and bribery stemming from testimony at the Zondo commission.
Whatever criteria the ANC used to select her for this senior parliamentary position are as inexplicable as black DA members trying to justify racist sentiments oozing from some of their white colleagues. On Tuesday, the ANC announced that former minister Malusi Gigaba and former speaker of the National Assembly Baleka Mbete had withdrawn from its list of MPs. On Wednesday morning, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that Deputy President David Mabuza had requested that his swearing-in as an MP be “postponed”. This was because of a report by the ANC integrity commission naming him and 21 others as people who could prejudice the party due to allegations of wrongdoing against them. Minutes later, it was confirmed that Mokonyane would not be sworn in “due to family responsibilities”. “The ANC will accordingly reassign Comrade Nomvula to its headquarters at Luthuli House,” a statement advised. It is unclear whether anyone in the ANC knew what was going on as the party’s new chief whip, ...
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