The ANC Veterans League wants all senior ANC leaders, including deputy president Paul Mashatile, who are facing corruption, ‘misdeeds’ and allegations of wrongdoing, to appear before the integrity commission.
This as the pressure mounts on Mashatile to respond to allegations that he may have benefited from companies that received government tenders
The ANC Veterans League this week called on Mashatile to appear before the commission to answer the charges, saying he had to take steps to clear his name as the country edges towards elections later this year.
Several exposés have been written about Mashatile, alleging his son-in-law benefited from state tenders and that he has lived in houses allegedly bought with money made from tenders.
Mashatile’s spokesperson, Vukani Mde, said the deputy president was confident he would emerge unscathed from any investigation conducted by either the state or the ANC.
Nobody who has brought the ANC into disrepute should be on the lists going to national or provincial legislatures before they have embarked on relevant processes to clear their name
— ANC Veterans League
This comes as Mashatile has sought to rebuff allegations he may have a corrupt relationship with people who have won contracts with the state.
The league’s president, Snuki Zikalala, this week said they were concerned about the allegations against Mashatile, who as deputy president holds a senior position in the party.
The call by Zikalala comes as the DA announced its intention to lay criminal charges against Mashatile on Monday.
Mashatile, through Mde, told the Sunday Times he was open to appearing before the integrity commission, and that he remained confident the body would not make any adverse findings against him.
The league has been vocal about the party dealing with people facing corruption allegations, saying they should step aside and not be allowed to represent the ANC, either in parliament or in provincial legislatures.
It has continually called for those who have been fingered in scandals such as state capture and the VBS Mutual Bank heist to be removed from party lists if they cannot clear their names.
Zikalala said this week that Mashatile must appear before the integrity commission to clear his name.
“We are not targeting Paul, let's make it very clear. We are saying every individual facing allegations of corruption should make sure he goes to the integrity commission and clears his name, because society wants the ANC to have credible leaders,” Zikalala said.
“This is not decampaigning against the ANC, it's campaigning for the ANC. Our people are saying they don’t want corrupt leaders. You look at Rise Mzansi’s campaign, it's on corruption of ANC leaders. So we can’t just fold our arms.”
The league also said this week that the calibre of the ANC candidates to parliament and provincial legislatures “can be the make or break of decisively winning the 2024 elections”.
The league said: “Nobody who has brought the ANC into disrepute should be on the lists going to national or provincial legislatures before they have embarked on relevant processes to clear their name.” It also said that “our list of candidates should consist of credible leaders who will restore the confidence of the public in the ANC”.
Mde said Mashatile had never done anything that would bring his integrity or that of the ANC into question.
“The first thing to say is [that] the deputy president respects due process, whether that is regarding [the] state’s official investigations or party processes such as the integrity commission. As a public representative, he understands the need for integrity and being above reproach, and he has always subjected himself to scrutiny. It won’t be the first time that [he] has been scrutinised in the ANC as someone who stands for public office on behalf of the ANC, and he’s never been found wanting in terms of his ethics and his conduct,” said Mde.
“So, if he were to appear before the integrity commission, he is also confident that will continue to be the case, and I think the deputy president is quite sure of the fact that he has never in his time as a public representative and as an activist of the ANC ever acted in a way that would bring either the ANC or his public office into disrepute.”
The pressure the league has put on Mashatile has been met with fierce opposition from senior ANC leaders in the party’s top seven and on its national executive committee (NEC), who are closing ranks and accusing the elders of “decampaigning” the party.
We mustn’t allow ourselves to be diverted by people with sinister motives. Some may be called veterans, but how they conduct themselves and how they use some of these positions is all about being vindictive and destructive and continuing with the 101 agenda
— Senior party leader
These leaders have said the league’s call for senior and powerful ANC leaders to be left off the party lists has played into the hands of the opposition.
Some senior members of the party have gone so far as to accuse the veterans of using the same tactics against Mashatile they used against former president Jacob Zuma.
“We mustn’t allow ourselves to be diverted by people with sinister motives. Some may be called veterans, but how they conduct themselves and how they use some of these positions is all about being vindictive and destructive and continuing with the 101 agenda,” said a senior party leader.
Instead of going out to convince voters to vote for the ANC, the veterans were focused on a “witch hunt” against Mashatile.
“We’ve never discussed that thing [allegations against Mashatile], and I just think the veterans must spare us this unnecessary thing. They must go and influence people about voting for the ANC,” the leader said.
The league is also said to have been called out by the previous NEC and national working committee (NWC) meeting for behaving like opposition politicians.
“It was raised before, [and] they were reprimanded in the last NEC that they must stop this thing, even in the NWC,” a senior leader said.
“They behave as if they are innocent, [but] even saints are people who have sinned before. They think they are these holier than thou people, [but] we know them.”
Those around Mashatile have said that, as much as the ANC veterans have the right to voice their concerns, they are speaking out of turn because Mashatile is at present undergoing several vetting processes in the ANC, cabinet and parliament.
Mashatile was being put through a lifestyle audit in accordance with the instructions of President Cyril Ramaphosa, who has said all cabinet members must go through this process.
He was also being vetted by the ANC’s electoral committee, which is scrutinising all those nominated for parliament or a provincial legislature.
There was also parliament’s register of MPs’ interests, where Mashatile is required on an ongoing basis to declare all his assets, including money and the gifts he has received.
“We have to subject everything [to] all those proper processes, and there’s no way we can escape those processes. This is ‘through the eye of the needle’ — it is a real thing, and every ANC leader is going through that. There are processes in place that the party has put in place,” said a Mashatile confidant.
“These processes are there so that no aspersions are cast on people without facts.”
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