The ANC yesterday declined to say whether it will take action against former president Jacob Zuma, who is currently embroiled in a legal dispute with the party’s current leader, Cyril Ramaphosa.

Zuma, who is pursuing private prosecution processes against Ramaphosa in connection with the president’s alleged failure to intervene in the court matter between himself and senior state prosecutor Billy Downer, has issued summons against Ramaphosa — who he wants prosecuted.

While the ANC’s newly-elected secretary general Fikile Mbalula, who briefed the media in Johannesburg yesterday, vowed that the party would be harsh on undisciplined members, but he declined to say whether the ANC leadership would take disciplinary action against Zuma.

“We will engage with former president Jacob Zuma. We choose not to engage him in the public domain. You can’t chase after ANC people, you engage them.”

Zuma’s legal action, which some described as frivolous, angered some ANC leaders, particularly those aligned to Ramaphosa. Tensions between Zuma and Ramaphosa’s supporters were also heightened after Zuma’s late arrival at the opening of last month’s ANC elective conference disrupted Ramaphosa’s speech.

The former president’s supporters used his entrance to heckle and boo Ramaphosa. Mbalula, who was speaking ahead of the start of the second leg of the ANC’s national conference due to kick off virtually from tomorrow, issued a stern warning to party members who disregard the organisation’s disciplinary code.

“One of the issues we are going to deal with in Mangaung [at the second leg of the ANC national conference] is anarchy — where ANC members do as they like. Discipline is going to run supreme in the organisation. The centre must hold,” he said.

On the ANC’s five MPs who went against the party’s national executive committee (NEC) directive to vote against the independent panel report recommending impeachment proceedings against Ramaphosa in the wake of the Phala Phala farm scandal, Mbalula said these members would face disciplinary action.

“These are members of the ANC who have defied the mandate of the NEC. Their matter has been referred to the national disciplinary committee. Once you occupy an ANC position, you cease to have an opinion.”

The five MPs who will face the party’s disciplinary processes include Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Pietermaritzburg-based ANC MP Mervyn Dirks.

The ANC’s two-day virtual national conference, which will close on Friday, come as a result of the party’s failure to deal with all the issues which formed part of last month’s five-day national elective conference, which ended on December 20. This was after glitches in the delegates’ registration process delayed the start of the conference.

The two-day national conference, Mbalula said, will see the ANC’s newly-elected NEC members converge in Mangaung in the Free State. ANC policies, including the party’s contentious step-aside policy compelling members facing criminal charges to step down from their positions within the ANC and the government, would be the main focus of the two-day conference.

Mbalula, who is also the minister of transport, said delegates of the two-day conference would, among other things, deliberate on proposed amendments to the ANC constitution. The ANC two-day conference will culminate in the party’s 111 birthday rally, also in Mangaung, on January 8.