Former ANC chief whip Stone Sizani, who resigned as a member of parliament yesterday, was told of his new deployment as ambassador to Germany a week ago.
The former Eastern Cape education MEC said he received the call from ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe last Thursday.
“I was informed by the SG last Thursday and I resigned today with immediate effect,” said Sizani.
He takes over from former Eastern Cape premier Makhenkesi Stofile, who resigned as ambassador last year.
“I’m waiting for officials from the Department of International Relations (Dirco) to fetch me so that I can go to Pretoria to make the necessary preparations,” said Sizani.
He was elected as an ANC MP after the 2014 general elections and appointed as the party chief whip, the most senior among the MPs.
His roles included ensuring that all the party’s MPs act according to the party’s brief, and he also acted as a link between the party in parliament and those in government.
His term of office has not been plain sailing especially since the arrival of Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters with their radical approach to politics.
Parliament has been characterised by walkouts and fights between MPs, while defending President Jacob Zuma over Nkandla and the EFF’s “pay-back-the-money” campaign had become a full-time job.
Yesterday Sizani expressed relief he was leaving parliament.
“It was challenging, very challenging. You see, you are never prepared. If you know the different political stances from different political parties because you are engaging them everyday, it’s not a bad thing.
“But if you have to manage and balance those viewpoints every day as you do your work, it becomes even more challenging because nobody wants to please you.
“Everybody wants to get the weakest point of your life. All you do is try to manage this relationship without showing them any middle finger.
“In the context in which I was working, I am happy that nothing untoward happened. I’m very happy, I must say I’m happy that I’m no more an MP,” said Sizani.
In the same breath he said having to protect the ruling party during the dramatic parliamentary sessions had helped him understand himself.
“The people I worked with, both inside and outside the ANC, this experience made me understand the nation I work for and it made me stronger by understanding myself even better,” he added.
But the DA was quick to respond to Sizani’s departure, with the opposition party saying that his resignation was “a clear indication of schisms within the ANC caucus and a man finally crushed by his own conscience”.
Said DA chief whip John Steenhuisen: “For the past three years Sizani has been forced to make a career of defending the indefensible in parliament at President Zuma’s behest, and has sustained numerous embarrassments in the National Assembly in the process.”
Chief whip Sizani off to Germany as envoy
The former Eastern Cape education MEC said he received the call from ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe last Thursday.
“I was informed by the SG last Thursday and I resigned today with immediate effect,” said Sizani.
He takes over from former Eastern Cape premier Makhenkesi Stofile, who resigned as ambassador last year.
“I’m waiting for officials from the Department of International Relations (Dirco) to fetch me so that I can go to Pretoria to make the necessary preparations,” said Sizani.
He was elected as an ANC MP after the 2014 general elections and appointed as the party chief whip, the most senior among the MPs.
His roles included ensuring that all the party’s MPs act according to the party’s brief, and he also acted as a link between the party in parliament and those in government.
His term of office has not been plain sailing especially since the arrival of Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters with their radical approach to politics.
Parliament has been characterised by walkouts and fights between MPs, while defending President Jacob Zuma over Nkandla and the EFF’s “pay-back-the-money” campaign had become a full-time job.
Yesterday Sizani expressed relief he was leaving parliament.
“It was challenging, very challenging. You see, you are never prepared. If you know the different political stances from different political parties because you are engaging them everyday, it’s not a bad thing.
“But if you have to manage and balance those viewpoints every day as you do your work, it becomes even more challenging because nobody wants to please you.
“Everybody wants to get the weakest point of your life. All you do is try to manage this relationship without showing them any middle finger.
“In the context in which I was working, I am happy that nothing untoward happened. I’m very happy, I must say I’m happy that I’m no more an MP,” said Sizani.
In the same breath he said having to protect the ruling party during the dramatic parliamentary sessions had helped him understand himself.
“The people I worked with, both inside and outside the ANC, this experience made me understand the nation I work for and it made me stronger by understanding myself even better,” he added.
But the DA was quick to respond to Sizani’s departure, with the opposition party saying that his resignation was “a clear indication of schisms within the ANC caucus and a man finally crushed by his own conscience”.
Said DA chief whip John Steenhuisen: “For the past three years Sizani has been forced to make a career of defending the indefensible in parliament at President Zuma’s behest, and has sustained numerous embarrassments in the National Assembly in the process.”
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