ANC MP Mervyn Dirks insists he is not ‘undisciplined’

Pietermaritzburg-based ANC MP Mervyn Dirks, who is among the five ruling party MPs who went against the organisation leadership’s directive for all ANC Parliamentarians to vote against the Phala Phala independent panel report, yesterday rejected accusations that he is undisciplined.

I’m a highly disciplined ANC member. I wouldn’t have been in the ANC for all these years if I were not a disciplined person.

Led by former chief justice, Sandile Ngcobo, the panel recommended that Parliament should consider instituting impeachment proceedings against President Cyril Ramaphosa, who, the panel, in its investigation, may have violated the constitution in relation to his conduct in the Phala Phala farm robbery scandal.

However, the ANC national executive committee (NEC) which said the panel report was inconclusive, urged the party’s 230 MPs to vote against the panel’s recommendations.

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But Dirks, along with Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) minister, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and three other ANC MPs, voted in favour of the panel’s recommendations during Parliament’s special sitting held on Tuesday.

Despite Parliament having rejected the panel’s report after an overwhelming number of ANC MPs voted against it, the party’s national chairperson, Gwede Mantashe, said the conduct of the five ruling party MPs would be referred to the organisation’s disciplinary committee.

Going against an ANC NEC directive is considered a serious transgression which could result in the expulsion of a member.

However, according to other ANC MPs who attended the party’s Parliamentary caucus meeting shortly before voting began on Tuesday afternoon, Dlamini-Zuma, who is also a member of the party’s NEC, argued that the ANC leadership’s directive was issued without due processes being followed.

She said some NEC members, particularly those considered to be opposed to Ramaphosa’s leadership, were not given an opportunity to speak at the meeting.

However, according to an NEC member, when some NEC members indicated that they still wanted to make an input, they were told that the matter was closed.

My view is that the five MPs believe they have enough ammunition to fight the case should they be charged. They will maintain that the NEC’s resolution was irregular.

Ramaphosa, who is tipped to win the ANC leadership race at the party’s national elective conference scheduled to kick off at Johannesburg’s Nasrec Expo on December 16, is facing a challenge from former health minister, Zweli Mkhize, who did not participate in Tuesday’s voting processes.

While Dlamini-Zuma failed to get enough support from ANC branches to qualify to contest the presidency, her supporters were hoping that delegates at the conference would nominate her from the floor.

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For Dlamini-Zuma to be able to stand, 25% of the about 4 000 ANC conference delegates will have to endorse her.

In 2018, shortly after the ANC 2017 national elective conference where Ramaphosa defeated Dlamini-Zuma in the party’s presidential race, Ramaphosa appointed her to join his Cabinet.

Sources within Dlamini-Zuma’s ANC presidential elections campaign told The Witness that she was aware that she may have to resign as Cabinet minister in the event of Ramaphosa being re-elected as party president.

If you have been following her campaign closely, then you should have realised that she no longer has confidence in Ramaphosa’s leadership.
She has even gone to the extent of saying Ramaphosa should step down in the face of the Phala Phala scandal.
So, given this reality, it would be difficult for her to continue serving in Ramaphosa’s Cabinet should he be re-elected ANC president.

Apart from electing ANC leaders, the five-day ANC national conference is also expected to debate a number of key issues, including the country’s power supply challenges.