Newly elected parliamentary Chief Whip Mdumiseni Ntuli believes the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) will further clarify how its decision to send Zizi Kodwa back to Parliament is not in violation of its own rules.
In an interview with the Sunday Times this week, Ntuli said there was confusion within the ANC and in broader society about the step-aside rule.
“It’s an area that I think does require a better explanation to the ANC membership and society because it [the Kodwa issue] may be construed as the ANC violating or walking away from its own rules.
“If it was not at the time where we were transitioning from one parliament to another, he was just in parliament at the time, there would not be questions around whether he should have been left in parliament or not,” Ntuli said.
“The way the rules get applied in the transitional period as in this case with comrade Zizi is a matter we need to clarify ourselves better in the NEC so that we are better empowered to communicate whether this was a right or wrong decision,” he said.
Kodwa stepped down as minister of sports, art & culture last month after he was charged with corruption. But three weeks later he was sworn in as an MP.
The ANC Veterans League challenged the decision, but ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said party policy only barred Kodwa from serving in national or provincial executives or being chair of a parliamentary committee, but did not block him from being an MP.
The way the rules get applied in the transitional period as in this case with comrade Zizi is a matter we need to clarify ourselves better in the NEC so that we are better empowered to communicate whether this was a right or wrong decision
— Mdumiseni Ntuli
Shortly after taking the chief whip role, Ntuli was in the firing line over the MK Party’s successful bid to name disgraced former judge John Hlophe to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).
The JSC is the body that recommended Hlophe, then judge president of the Western Cape High Court, be impeached for misconduct after he tried to influence two Constitutional Court judges to side with Jacob Zuma in a case before the apex court.
Zuma has since appointed Hlophe as leader of the MK Party in parliament.
The DA, partners with the ANC in the government of national unity (GNU), opposed Hlophe’s appointment to the JSC and were dismayed that ANC MPs voted in support of it.
“He has the right to participate in debate on any matter before the National Assembly, including a report from the JSC,” Ntuli said.
“What is it that we’re going to use to justify [barring him], without changing the rules of parliament or the constitution? What are we going to use to justify that he doesn’t deserve to sit in the JSC?
“The reading of some in our society and the MK Party may be that his removal was essentially to destroy him, rather than removing a judge who was not fit and proper.”
He said the ANC had made this point in its discussions the DA, whose opposition to Hlophe’s inclusion “did not make sense”.
The correct procedure would be to “address the lacuna that is in the law, and the rules of parliament” first, and then base decisions in parliament on such legislation or regulations.
“I think it would be premature to take a decision first and [then] go and legislate it,” Ntuli said. You can’t decide, and [then] legislate to justify your decision. You’ve got to legislate and take decisions within the parameters of the law.
“I know even within and outside our own ranks, there are people who may not be happy about this position. But my own view was that we have to make decisions that, even when we look back down the line in future, we can say, if similar circumstances arise, I can still take the same decision because of its principle,” he said.
The ANC caucus was divided on the Hlophe issue along the broadly Zuma vs President Cyril Ramaphosa lines that have split the party for many years.
The fault lines were clear when some of the ANC’s then MPs, including Supra Mahumapelo, Zweli Mkhize and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, voted with the opposition to institute impeachment proceedings against Ramaphosa related to the Phala Phala scandal.
During Zuma’s second term, some in the ANC caucus voted with the opposition in a motion of no confidence against him.
Ntuli’s predecessor as chief whip, Pemmy Majodina, has previously spoken about her battles in enforcing discipline in party ranks.
Ntuli is likely to face challenges in persuading ANC MPs to toe the party line on issues that involve co-operation with their DA counterparts, their former foes until the election result forced them together in the GNU.
Ntuli said that based on the response he received to his decision to support the MK Party on Hlophe, the ANC caucus was “cautiously observing what is happening” in the GNU.
ANC MPs had told him of their concern that the ANC would fall into the trap of being led by the DA against Hlophe, because many might see this as the ANC kicking a man who was already down.
“So those sentiments indicated to me that there was a high level of nervousness as I was standing up to represent the ANC,” Ntuli said, explaining that he had had to make the Hlophe decision “on behalf of that collective” without having the chance to consult the caucus first.
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