ANC Passes the buck to NWC
The extended Special ANC NEC has refused to ratify recommendations by the ANC Integrity Commission for party leaders implicated in the VBS Bank Heist report to step down. Instead the NEC has referred the matter to the party’s National Working Committee (NEC).
LIMPOPO – The party said in a statement that it was only fair to provide audience and platform for those implicate to state their case.
On Sunday ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe said the NEC acknowledge the work of the integity commission on ANC members implicated in the VBS matter and referred the report of the commission to the national working committee for completeness and finality,” said Mabe during an interview with Capricorn Voice newspaper this week.
Last week the Integrity Commission of the ANC led by chairperson, George Mashamba recommended to the NEC of the ANC that those implicated in the alleged syphoning millions of rands from the collapsing VBS must step aside. The commission said the recommendations where in-line with the December resolutions of the party’s elective conference in Nasrec, Johannesburg last year.
In the meeting held at St George Hotel in Centurion yesterday, acting chairperson Paul Mashatile announced that the matter has been referred to NWC for discussion because of its incompleteness ANC NEC member who did not want to be named because they are not allowed to speak to the media said the general feeling in the meeting was that the Integrity Commission jumped the gun by making the recommendations because it didn’t afford those implicated an opportunity to make representations.
“You can’t give recommendations without giving individual members accused of wrong doing without affording them a chance to state their case. The ANC is the custodian of the constitution of the Republic of South Africa. It is the same ANC that drafted the Bill of Rights so it can’t be seen to be violating the basic tenets of the constitution by just telling members to step aside without hearing their cases first. The ANC must be seen out there by the public and everyone else upholding the rules of the natural justice,” said the NEC member yesterday.
Another member said the decision by the NEC not to instruct those implicated to step aside was a step into the right direction.
“This was going to be difficult because even the VBS report does not have evidence of wrong-doing by the members but only mere remarks and conclusions. Apart from that, some of these leaders have already taken legal steps to have certain findings of the report to be deleted. So what will happen if we tell them to go and the courts exonerates them of any wrong-doing,” asked the member.
Last month the Reserve Bank released a report titled “The Great Bank Heist” implicating Limpopo ANC deputy provincial chairperson Florence Radzilani and the party’s provincial treasurer, Danny Msiza. Msiza has since approached the courts to try to clear his name saying the report was not on-point about his name.
The report accused Msiza of being the man behind the municipal investments, which invested about R1 .5 billion into to the bank. Msiza wants the report to be rechecked as no tangible evidence was provided to connect him with the municipal investments. An ANC inside said on Monday that Msiza was innocent and deserve to be afforded a chance to state his case. “He knows his story inside out and i am telling you, if given a chance, he will take them to the cleaners because there is no evidence that directly points to him,”said the source.
Radzilani, who is also Vhembe District municipality’s executive mayor is accused of wrongly investing over R300 million into the bank against caution by the national treasury not to do so as government institutions were not allowed to bank public funds with a mutual bank. She is also accused of asking for Christmas from the shareholders last year.
The Limpopo ANC also sat on Monday to discuss the outcome of the NEC meeting which has for now given those implicated a chance to breathe again until the matter is jolted by the NWC.
“We will discuss the matter in the next PEC meeting. We are also expecting reports from regions on municipal decisions on implicated municipalities,” said party provincial secretary, Soviet Lekganyane yesterday.
Lekganyane has given Limpopo Premier Stan Mathabatha until October month-end for action to be taken against officials in implicated municipalities.
