ANC stumps Bathabile: Convicted ex-minister not eligible for any NEC position

Former social development minister Bathabile Dlamini’s “small-anyana skeleton” (skeleton in the cupboard) has caught up with her after the ANC disqualified her as a candidate for any national executive committee (NEC) position at its upcoming national conference.

The former president of the ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) has also been disqualified from standing for any position in the league because she was sentenced in a court to more than six months in jail or a fine.

In terms of the ANC’s rule 4.1, while any member may stand for the NEC if they have been an active member for at least 10 years, the party expects the highest ethical and moral standards from its NEC leaders.

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ANC can learn from DA and ActionSA

But political analyst Professor Lesiba Teffo said there was nothing extraordinary about the ANC’s action because it was lagging behind the Democratic Alliance and ActionSA in acting decisively against unethical misconduct in its ranks.

“If they acted according to the dictates and prescripts of their seminal document, Through the Eye of the Needle, the ANC would still be the glorious movement it used to be,” Teffo said.

The analyst said despite being a small, new party, ActionSA had set an example on dealing with unethical conduct among its members.

“The ANC could have learned a lesson from ActionSA, which small as it is, acts … they don’t hesitate. You may cry and complain after that but they move on,” Teffo said.

“There is nothing extraordinary in this ANC action, there is nothing to celebrate. If they acted
without fear or favour from the beginning, they wouldn’t have this problem.”

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Dlamini’s disqualification

On the disqualification of Dlamini and others who may have suffered the same fate, electoral committee secretary chief Livhuwani Matsila said: “We can neither confirm nor deny that.”

The ANC electoral committee, also known as Elexions, wrote a letter to Dlamini in-forming her that she was disqualified.

Dlamini, who served as ANCWL president from 2015 until the league was disbanded and replaced with a national task team recently, is number 15 on the 80-member NEC additional members’ list recently announced by Kgalema Motlanthe.

She is the first senior ANC politician to be officially disqualified by the party for a court conviction or serious ethical misconduct.

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Should Zuma also be disqualified?

Her disqualification raised questions about whether former president Jacob Zuma would be
disqualified from standing for a party position in future.

Zuma was sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment for contempt of court after he refused to testify in the state capture inquiry, but was released by former prison boss Arthur Fraser on medical parole after serving only a few months in jail.

Zuma was recently nominated by his ANC Nkandla ward 14 branch for the national chair position, along with Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who was nom inated for the position of president.

But neither made the cut in the NEC final nominations.

In the letter dated 7 December, a copy of which The Citizen has obtained, committee chair Motlanthe told the politician she was ineligible to stand for nomination as a candidate for the NEC position following a vetting process conducted by the committee.

– ericn@citizen.co.za

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