The ANC has asked its beleaguered Eastern Cape leader, Pumlani Mkolo, to “step aside” as the Rubusana region’s chair even though the party has found nothing wrong with the process of the conference where he was elected.
This was one of the issues in a report tabled before President Cyril Ramaphosa at the weekend.
The party want Mkolo to vacate his position because he is one of the ANC leaders facing charges in connection with the Mandela memorial funds scandal.
Meanwhile a long-awaited report from a Jessie Duarte-led national dispute resolution committee has been released.
It declares the outcome of the Rubusana conference in September – which elected Mkolo as chair – as legitimate, the party announced on Monday.
Present at Ramaphosa’s meeting with the ANC’s Eastern Cape provincial executive committee (PEC) were secretary-general Ace Magashule, his deputy, Duarte, and national treasurer Paul Mashatile.
Mkolo confirmed receiving an instruction to step aside, which formed part of a report compiled by the party’s integrity commission but in a hand-delivered a letter of appeal to the ANC’s national working committee (NWC) he has argued he should be allowed to remain at the helm.
“I have appealed the decision that recommends I step aside. I have given details of the reasons why,” said Mkolo.
The Dispatch understands that Mkolo has capitalised on the fact that no time frames were set when the ANC’s integrity commission ordered him to step aside as regional secretary back in 2015, and that he argued that other ANC leaders facing similar charges of involvement in the Mandela memorial scandal were not being treated in the same manner.
They include former BCM mayor and deputy mayor Zukiswa Ncitha and Temba Tinta, who were removed from those positions and instead promoted to the National Assembly and Bhisho legislature respectively. Two other ANC councillors, Sindiswa Gomba and Luleka Simon-Ndzele, are serving as ANC PEC and REC members respectively.
“You get this sense that the ANC is not treating its members the same way. I had to appeal this decision and seek clarity on so many grey areas,” said Mkolo.
The same NEC hand-picked Mike Mabuyakhulu in KwaZulu-Natal as a task team convener while aware that he faces criminal charges over a R28m scandal, Mkolo added.
“You ask yourself why some remain in office while others, like me, even though I have been elected by structures of the ANC are told to step aside,” he said.
Pressure has been mounting for the ANC top leaders to release findings of the Duarte report.
The Dispatch has seen a three-page letter written by lawyers representing BCM’s Sicelo Mhlauli branch (ward 25 near King William’s Town) addressed to Ramaphosa, the party’s other top five, the Oscar Mabuyane-led PEC and the NWC.
In it, Loyiso Gobodo of Godongwana, Ngonyama & Pakade Attorneys gives the ANC 48 hours from Monday “to release the verdict of the NDRC [Duarte’s national dispute resolution committee].”
The letter cites the involvement of Mkolo at the conference as one of seven reasons the NDRC nullified the outcomes of the Rubusana conference.
“Should the ANC officials…fail to nullify the results of the regional conference and appoint a regional task team, we hold instructions to bring an application to have the outcomes of the said regional conference reviewed and set aside,” writes Gobodo.
Contacted for comment, ANC provincial secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi said they had seen Duarte’s report on the NDRC’s work on the Rubusana conference and that the REC had been notified of the decisions and outcomes.
“The responsibility of the PEC would be to inform all the appellants,” said Ngcukayitobi.
Reacting to threats of court, Ngcukayitobi said: “We will have to defend the ANC against any litigants.
“[The Rubusana conference] was convened under the guidance and supervision of the PEC and for this reason the conference was legitimate and the REC is confirmed.”
A detailed report from the NDRC would be presented to ANC structures, added Ngcukayitobi...