In case you missed it, Makhosi Khoza is a hero of defiance

Why is Dr Khoza not getting the level of broad-based support she deserves?

Former ANC MP Makhosi Khoza. Picture: Gallo Images

On August 9, 1956, 20 000 women marched to the Union Buildings in defiance of the Pass Laws. ANC women were key to this march.

Alas, that spirit of defiance is dead except for one ANC MP, Dr Makhosi Khoza, who has literally put her life on the line by calling on President Jacob Zuma to resign.

Access to political and economic power has so corrupted ANC Women’s League members that they fail to see why they should mobilise all women to demand protection for Khoza and her family.

If ever there were a cause that should ignite and unite us, it is Dr Khoza, she who dared to call her president to account.

As Women’s Day approaches we should rally around her and demand an end to the harassment she has endured for far too long.

As much as we appreciate parliamentary protection, it comes a little too late and the SAPS cannot be trusted.

Her repeated calls for presidential accountability and moral leadership have led to serious threats from key figures in the ANC leadership, not least the minister of police, Fikile Mbalula.

Instead of protecting her, he called for her to be disciplined, followed by more threats from senior ANC member Jackson Mthembu and a group of eThekwini ANCYL supporters.

Urging her colleagues to govern with integrity and to return to the letter of the law and the constitution, she has been degraded to persona non grata within the party.

Threats of assassination towards a member of parliament, who lives up to the title honourable and whose only “sin” is to uphold the tenets of the constitution, should not be taken lightly.

Problem is, the ANC mafia has allegedly gotten away with so many assassinations of its dissenting members that such threats cannot be taken lightly.

The failure to institute investigations into these killings makes it even more suspicious. It is also a serious warning to citizens not to tangle with the ANC.

When the head of police jumps into the fray calling for Khoza to be disciplined, we know what that means.

“Discipline” within the ANC can mean anything, given reports of what happened to dissidents in exile.

Quattro symbolises what the ANC is capable of and anyone who dares to go against the establishment should watch it.

Yet surprisingly Khoza says: “I never imagined that the ANC would reach this level of paralysis and contamination.”

Contamination set in decades ago, hence it is easy to ignore her complaints: “Instead of receiving assurance for protection, the minister of police referred to ANC MPs like myself as suicide bombers and threatened them with expulsion should they vote in favour of a no-confidence vote in the president.

“To me this explained why the death threats on my life and family were never taken seriously by the SAPS … The chief whip called for the ANC to charge me. When threats escalated to my children and I was given 21 days to live, I posted the threats on my Facebook wall. I lost faith in the SAPS and parliament. I chose not to die in silence.”

These threats have been tracked, yet no action has been taken. In similar vein the women’s league is deliberately mute in the face of serious threats of assassination to a female MP.

Some have come out in support of Pravin Gordhan and Mcebisi Jonas, but not for Khoza, and the question is why?