Phala Phala: “‘Thuma Mina man’s’ victory a wasted chance to nurture faith in ANC”

The threatened parliamentary ANC rebellion against President Cyril Ramaphosa ended in a whimper on Tuesday, as MPs followed party orders, setting him up to steamroller towards the party’s elective conference on Friday.

Phala Phala vote

Ramaphosa’s expected foes – including Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, former North West premier Supra Mahumapelo, former Free State MEC Mosebenzi Zwane, as well as MP Mervyn Dirks – broke ranks with the ANC caucus to vote in favour of the Section 89 panel report on the Phala Phala burglary.

However, the chair occupied by Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu – a spurned ANC presidential candidate who has been on the attack against Ramaphosa for weeks – remained conspicuously empty when votes were called.

Also not to be seen in the chamber was Zweli Mkhize, Ramaphosa’s main challenger for the top ANC post.

The ANC dissenters were all loudly cheered by EFF MPs, who also voted to accept the report, as did the DA and other minority parties.

Yet, the ANC’s caucus drowned them out, leading to a 214-148 vote to reject the report. There were two abstentions.

The result was a crushing victory for Ramaphosa and his supporters.

ALSO READ: Ramaphosa spared as MPs vote against adopting Phala Phala report

Divisions within the ANC

Describing as “a courageous act” some ANC members voting in favour of the report, political analyst Dr Nkosikhulile Nyembezi said the move demonstrated “deep divisions within the ANC over combating corruption”.

“If victory in blocking the impeachment process means that the ANC is winnowed down to a shape acceptable to the rapacious interests it intends to challenge, that victory is questionable.

“Is it a victory, or a climb onto a winner’s podium, built on a staircase of defeats?” said Nyembezi.

He said the decision by the ANC to use its majority to reject the panel report would go down in history as “one of the lowest points in parliament’s history”.

ALSO READ: Phala Phala: Must Ramaphosa go? These ANC members voted ‘yes’

Wasted opportunity

“With hindsight, the revelations of the panel report were to be the fulcrum on which the prospects of the governing ANC and opposition parties turned.

“The message from ANC headquarters Luthuli House seems reminiscent of a military government that has taken control after an unruly revolution – order must be restored. But at what cost?

“Asking the question as to whether the ANC works for the people has constantly led to derisive laughter,” Nyembezi said.

“Each time the government has made another indefensible decision, ordinary people have come to think more and more that the ‘Thuma Mina’ man we elected to lead, is following us instead.

“The wasting of the opportunity to nurture and foster that fragile faith in our elected public representatives is the real legacy of the torrid five years of Ramaphosa’s presidency,” Nyembezi said.

As opposition parties earlier lambasted the ANC over “the shielding” of its leader on Phala Phala during a robust debate, Justice and Correctional Minister Ronald Lamola maintained Ramaphosa had a constitutional right to take the report on review.

Punching holes in arguments that the president was “avoiding accountability”, Lamola said: “Like any South African, the president has a right to take the matter on review. By holding this debate, we are holding him accountable through discussing this report. How do we support a report with insufficient evidence when the matter is under investigation by the public protector and other law-enforcement institutions?

“Evidence must be there and should be concrete. We don’t have grounds to impeach a sitting president,” argued Lamola.

ALSO READ: ‘ANC’s interests come first’: Ruling party slammed for protecting Ramaphosa in Phala Phala vote

Piling up pressure on Ramaphosa, DA leader John Steenhuisen decried what he called how easy it was for the ANC “to use its majority to crush the opposition”.

“We have seen the ANC shield [former president] Jacob Zuma – amid a half-a-dozen votes of no confidence.

“It was Nkandla and now it is Phala Phala – Zuma and now Ramaphosa. If you want to vote in the same manner as you did with Zuma, shame on you,” said Steenhuisen.

EFF leader Julius Malema said Ramaphosa’s decision to take the panel report on review demonstrated “avoiding scrutiny on Phala Phala”.

“Today, we are touching you because we are not in the pockets of your handlers,” he said, in reference to Ramaphosa.

He also labelled the president a “constitutional delinquent”.