Mokonyane wants ANC MPs who voted to remove Zuma to resign

ANC NEC member Nomvula Mokonyane has proposed that the ruling party’s MPs that voted for president Jacob Zuma to step down should resign.

City Press reports that Mokonyane singled out vocal ANC MPs Derek Hanekom and Makhosini Khoza as having “undertones of superior intelligence and elitism.”

A number of ANC MPs voted with the opposition in the motion of no confidence against Zuma, tabled by the opposition in parliament earlier this month. The president survived the motion.

In an article on the RealPolitik website, Mokonyane said there were more than 26 ANC MPs who voted with the opposition.

“The more than 26 ANC MPs who voted for the motion made absolutely clear their belief that building a successful and thriving South Africa will only happen if the South African ship is steered by a different captain.

“The country and the ANC would not be irrational to expect these MPs to destabilise the executive in the coming weeks and months, so it would not be prudent or rational for the ANC to allow the MPs and cabinet members who can only be expected to work against the president to continue to be part of the leadership collective in steering our country into its next destination,” she said.

Mokonyane said these MPs should resign and make room for new people who would support the ANC policies which include the radical economic transformation and the redistribution of land.

“If we are to take any of these policies to their logical conclusion, that will have to happen under a new leadership collective and it is only fair that any big and future decisions that are to be taken in the next few months must happen under this new leadership collective so the process of replacing the no confidence MPs must begin in earnest,” Mokonyane said.

She said the ANC MPs who refuse to follow the party line should “do the honourable thing in accordance with their ‘moral conscience’, resign, and look to the next election cycle.”