Ramaphosa must chop some heads off, starting with Dlamini-Zuma

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, without any shadow of doubt, has played her part meaningfully as a member of the ANC, having occupied various senior portfolios in the Cabinets of Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki, Jacob Zuma and now Cyril Ramaphosa.

She was almost guaranteed to be in the party’s national executive committee (NEC). Indeed, she featured on all lists to date, topping the list on several occasions with the most votes among the additional members. She has been a party loyalist prepared to defend the ANC with her life.

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But her actions lately point to an individual who is tired of it all. The stalwart seems to have become a liability to the ruling party with her rogue stance on various crucial issues that needed unity of action among all members.

Make no mistake, Dlamini-Zuma was right to contest for the ANC presidency in 2017 and last year against Ramaphosa.

Many other candidates wanted the number one position, with an unprecedented total of six candidates vying for the position. She even remained when all other presidential hopefuls pulled out or fell off when they could not muster sufficient support to be nominated.

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But recently, she has moved from a party loyalist and a trusted stalwart to a complete rogue.

Early this year, she opted to take a rather unfamiliar stance to vote with the opposition for the impeachment of Ramaphosa in the Phala Phala saga. Her position shocked everybody as she said it with a straight face.

She did it again during the debate on the impeachment of former public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane, when she decided to abscond from the vote to avoid obeying the ANC position. The only difference between the first and the second instances is that nobody was shocked.

Which loyal member would stay away from a crucial vote of their party in parliament, especially when that vote counts so much politically? Dlamini-Zuma did not even send an apology of absence to her chief whip Pemmy Majodina, who now appears to be fed up with her antics and publicly called for action to be taken against her.

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The action against Dlamini-Zuma is long overdue… She did not set a good example when she voted in favour of the impeachment of her party president in the Phala Phala saga.

Due to the ANC’s usual laxity on matters of discipline, she escaped censure despite a promise by then newly elected secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula, that stern action would be taken against her and others. If the ANC cannot discipline its members, the president should act.

You would feel some pity when ministers lose their jobs for flimsy reasons, like when then president Zuma ignored all his obvious wrongdoers and fired only Blade Nzimande from his Cabinet for his anti-state capture posture.

But you would never fault a president for being firm against rogue elements who vote for his impeachment. Ramaphosa should not be the only leader to tolerate such extreme defiance.

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With the proposed belt-tightening in our economy that includes trimming the bloated public service and the oversized Cabinet, this is an opportunity to chop some heads off, starting with the likes of Dlamini-Zuma.

It’s been a wonder to many why she was there for so long, when she was not supposed to be appointed in the first place after ANC’s elective conference in Nasrec. Then, the KwaZulu-Natal factor would come into play.

Ramaphosa had been wary of removing her lest he provoke another insurrection from that province. Now, procrastinator Ramaphosa has a liability on his lap.

But one thing is for sure: many other KwaZulu-Natal-born ANC MPs and NEC members could do her job equally well – if not better.

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