Dlamini-Zuma’s Phala Phala vote a miscalculation

While this week’s parliamentary vote on Phala Phala was a political victory for President Cyril Ramaphosa, what stands out is how Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma made a choice – that she is not loyal to her boss.

Her decision to vote against Ramaphosa was as shocking as it was disappointing, perhaps even a miscalculation on her part.

It was unexpected of a party stalwart to behave like rogue elements in the house such as Supra Mahumapelo, Mosebenzi Zwane and Mervyn Dirks.

You would have expected her to have voted differently, especially after Justice Minister Ronald Lamola so eloquently articulated the uselessness and sloppiness of the so-called independent panel report on Phala Phala.

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Any wonder why this politician once told South Africa that an ANC decision must be defended by members, even when a member disagreed with it initially? But, this week, she acted the opposite in parliament.

During her heyday, she once said: “The ANC is the most democratic organisation, we debate and debate until we come to a view. Once we come to a view then, irrespective of what your position was at the beginning of the debate, once a decision has been taken, all of us must defend that decision.”

This restates the fact: never trust a politician when it comes to the truth. Lindiwe Sisulu and Zweli Mkhize have proven to all and sundry they are cowards.

By boycotting the session where they could have expressed themselves publicly with a vote that Ramaphosa should be impeached, they displayed utter opportunism.

Even if Mkhize never attended parliament since the Digital Vibes saga broke out, would you boycott a session when your opponent is to be removed and you are the possible replacement? That’s the behaviour of a weak leader.

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What else did Sisulu want to achieve by boycotting other than to be on the safe side and not suffer the repercussion should the ANC take action against the rebellion? Who would trust her in future in her quest to be the first female president of the ANC and the country if she has no backbone?

Obviously, it was expected of Mahumapelo, Dirks, Zwane and Tandi Mahambehlala to do what they did to oppose Ramaphosa at every available opportunity.

Of course, for Mahumapelo, it is revenge time against Ramaphosa, who offloaded him from his North West gravy train of alleged looting and state capture. He was so big in the province that his nickname was “black Jesus”.

Dirks was a stranger who appeared from nowhere when he tried to humiliate Ramaphosa with his call for him to be investigated for a flimsy reason and an intangible allegation regarding ANC campaign funding.

Many heard his name for the first time when Dirks was in the news headlines for his controversial statement.

Zwane has been embroiled in the Vrede Dairy Project scandal in the Free State. Mahambehlala, the erstwhile chair of the failed ANC National Youth Task Team that comprised not-so-young youth as leaders, mindlessly played to the opposition gallery to be rewarded with their mere five seconds applause that she was smart.

Realising the consequences of voting “yes” against Ramaphosa, the diminutive politician tried to change her mind and vote “no” in what she termed, trickily so, “party line”.

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What is the party line in voting against your leader? Didn’t she know that political science says party line voting is toeing the line of the party by a voter?