ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule has called on his party's MPs to oppose the process to impeach public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane, which is due to commence next week.
He told the Sunday Times yesterday that "principled" ANC MPs would not vote in support of the motion brought by the DA.
If enough ANC MPs follow Magashule's line of march, and vote against the motion to establish an impeachment inquiry, Mkhwebane will likely be spared a historic removal from office - despite a damning report about her fitness for office.
An independent panel appointed to assess the merits of a motion to have Mkhwebane removed from office recommended on Monday that parliament should institute impeachment proceedings against her.
Several ANC MPs this week expressed their intention to block the parliamentary process to remove Mkhwebane, which will start on March 16, when the National Assembly is to vote on establishing an inquiry into Mkhwebane's fitness to hold office. The ANC Women's League and the uMkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) have expressed their support for Mkhwebane, but the ANC's national executive committee has yet to take a view.
Magashule said the DA motion is part of the opposition's strategy to divide the ANC - which, he said, includes party leader John Steenhuisen's comments about preferring to work with President Cyril Ramaphosa and other ANC reformists.
"Officially I can say there is no way the ANC can support the enemy of the revolution, the DA. We can't vote with the DA on principle matters. That is why in the motion of no confidence against [Gauteng premier David] Makhura, we defeated them," said Magashule.
"And it is funny for all those comrades throughout the country who vote with the enemy of the poor people and working class. You can see that they were trying to say the ANC of [deputy president David] Mabuza and Magashule . There is only one ANC. There is no way they can claim president Ramaphosa as their president.
"They are trying their luck. We can see the tactics of trying to divide the ANC … saying they can work with president Ramaphosa. There is only one ANC. Ramaphosa is part of us, he's part of ANC. The DA must stop its dirty tricks. It will fail in dividing the ANC.
"Formally I'm saying the ANC Women's League is right."
However, Magashule's views are expected to be challenged at the ANC national working committee (NWC) tomorrow, when Ramaphosa's supporters are likely to push for Mkhwebane's impeachment.
MPs sympathetic to the public protector told the Sunday Times that the motion to begin impeachment proceedings is being "rushed" through parliament as part of a broader strategy to punish Mkhwebane for investigating Ramaphosa's CR17 funding, and for her Absa/Bankorp investigation.
For the motion to hold an inquiry into her fitness to hold office to pass, 50% of MPs plus one (201) would need to vote in favour of it. Removing Mkhwebane would take a two-thirds majority (267 MPs).
The independent panel, led by retired Constitutional Court justice Bess Nkabinde, found substantial prima facie evidence of incompetence and misconduct on Mkhwebane's part. The most glaring example of incompetence was prima facie evidence that the public protector grossly overreached and exceeded the bounds of her powers. The panel cited repeated errors, such as:
- Incorrect interpretation of the law and other patent legal errors;
- Failure to take relevant information into account or to provide affected people with the right to be heard;
- Incorrect factual analysis; and
- Sustained lack of knowledge and/or inability or skill to perform her duties effectively.
"This suggests an inability to learn from mistakes by adopting a more careful approach," reads the report.
The speaker of the National Assembly, Thandi Modise, told MPs this week that parliament cannot afford to ignore the findings.
"It would be a very sad day, though, I must say it upfront, that with the report that all of you party leaders have in our hands, we say we don't want a committee stage, because then we would really be putting democracy in this country to shame.
"I think we owe it to the country, to the institution, to the individuals involved, to go through a process which in the end all of us can live with. For me that is very important," she said.
Even with such damning findings against Mkhwebane, there appear to be a number of ANC MPs who agree with Magashule that the party should block any inquiry.
These MPs rely on the fact that the ANC national executive committee (NEC) has not met to change its position on Mkhwebane since her appointment in October 2016.
An ANC MP who is a known backer of former president Jacob Zuma, Mervyn Dirks, said he would lobby other MPs to vote against the inquiry.
"I think it's an attack on a chapter 9 institution, I think it's a personal attack on the public protector … because she is investigating the CR17 funds and because she investigated the money that was stolen prior [to] 1994 from the Reserve Bank and Bankorp, which involved the Ruperts," he said.
"For you to say she must be removed because certain judgments were set aside is a fallacy because judges many times make rulings which are taken on review and the higher court sets them aside."
This is a view he said he would express in the ANC caucus and he will canvass other MPs to support it.
Another ANC MP, Thabo Mmutle, said if the ANC takes a decision on the matter, MPs will follow it - but for now the NEC's decision to welcome Mkhwebane's appointment stands. He admitted that he has not read the report of the independent panel, saying he is waiting for it to be brought to parliament so that it can be deliberated on.
MKMVA president and MP Kebby Maphatsoe said Mkhwebane has been treated unfairly, "especially as a woman". He said the ANC has to give direction on how the matter is pursued in parliament.
But other ANC leaders, who spoke on condition of anonymity, expressed their support for Mkhwebane's removal.
"The NWC will discuss this matter on Monday and come up with a position. I can tell you now we will remove her," said an NWC member who asked not to be named.
Deputy minister of state security Zizi Kodwa said: "We don't have ANC Women's League members in parliament; we are deployed by the ANC, not the women's league. We don't have MKMVA deployees in parliament, we are deployed by the ANC.
"It doesn't work that way," Kodwa said about the MKMVA and Women's League using their structures to speak about the matter.
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