Outspoken ANC MP worried ANCYL threatening her kids’ lives – report

ANC MP Makhosi Khoza, who has shot to prominence in the wake of her support for a secret ballot in the vote of no confidence against President Jacob Zuma, reportedly says her life and her family’s remains in danger as a result of her stance.

She and Pravin Gordhan are the only two MPs who have openly called for other MPs to vote with their conscience, and have said they intend to do so themselves.

In an act of clear intimidation by the ANC Youth League in Durban, the address of the home where he children live was distributed this week on social media, with calls by league members to picket outside the home of the single mother. However, she spends most of her time at a different address in Cape Town and was only in Durban to attend a high-profile book launch also being attended by a former Nigerian head of state.

Khoza says she’s been receiving death threats since last year, presumably emanating from those within her own party, largely as a result of her insistence that the ANC should return to displaying ethical behaviour and governing through conscionable decisions.

City Press reports that Khoza had been advised to stay away from her Durban home because of the “rage” directed at her and the harm that could come to her family as a result.

The league wants the MP recalled and even went as far as to call for the disruption of the book launch on Thursday at which Khoza was billed to speak. The launch went ahead, but only after a change of venue and a lengthy delay.

ANC chairperson in KwaZulu-Natal Sihle Zikalala called the league to order and the threats were then withdrawn.

Khoza told City Press this week: “I cannot be silent when I am beginning to see the symptoms of a society on a downward spiral.”

She expressed regret at not being able to go home to her children in Durban while she was there, because she is usually based in Cape Town as a parliamentarian.

“This sort of threat is real and serious,” she said, expressing concern for her children, who “mean everything to me”.