ANC step-aside debate heats up
With the newly-elected ANC KwaZulu-Natal leadership pushing for the scrapping of the party’s step-aside policy, former ANC provincial chairperson Senzo Mchunu has warned against “extremism”.
Calling for the scrapping of the step-aside policy, Mchunu said, was extreme.
The ANC KZN top brass, which was elected during last weekend’s provincial conference, is of the view that the step-aside policy stipulating that party members facing criminal charges should step down from both their ANC and government position, contravenes both the party’s and country’s constitutions.
However, Mchunu, who is currently an ANC national executive committee (NEC) member and Water and Sanitation Minister, said it was important for party members to approach the step-aside debate with an “open mind”.
“It’s important to avoid adopting an extreme position, particularly when it comes to an important matter such as this one,” he said. Mchunu, who is also the former KZN Premier, was speaking to The Witness ahead of the ANC policy conference scheduled to kick off in Nasrec, Johannesburg, on Friday.
The ANC step-aside policy, which was crafted during the party’s 2017 national conference, has so far resulted in party members such as former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede and ANC secretary general Ace Magashule stepping down from their positions after criminal charges were laid against them. Newly-elected ANC KZN provincial secretary Bheki Mtolo said the province will present a “concrete proposal” at the policy conference for the scrapping of the step-aside policy.
“It has created fights within the ANC, making it difficult for the ANC to focus on its main task of transforming society and improving the living conditions of the poor. At the conference delegates from KwaZulu-Natal will not only be calling for the step-aside policy to be reviewed, but that it should also be scrapped,” he said.
One of the criticisms of the step-aside policy is that it has no provisions on how those affected by the policy would be reinstated to their positions in the event of their being cleared by the courts. There have also been concerns that the policy could be used to purge ANC members perceived as a threat to the dominant faction within the party.
Mtolo said the policy undermines the rights of ANC members, who, unlike the rest of the country’s citizens who enjoy the right to be deemed innocent until found guilty by a court of law, are presumed guilty until found innocent.
Members of other political parties are not being subjected to that kind of policy. It can’t be correct that only ANC members are stripped of their right to be innocent until found guilty
Mtolo and other ANC provincial leaders who emerged at last weekend’s KZN conference are part of a ruling party faction called the Taliban. The faction, which also includes members of the party’s radical economic transformation (RET) faction, is believed to be sympathetic to former president Jacob Zuma.
While the ANC in Limpopo province said it was against the step-aside policy in its current form, the province wants the policy to be “refined” as opposed to being scrapped. ANC national spokesperson Pule Mabe said party members will be able to express their views during the ANC policy conference.
“There will be more than 2 000 delegates. We are expecting a robust debate. In the ANC, members are free to express themselves on any issue relating to the ANC,” he said.
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