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‘I owe you no accountability’: Mahumapelo claps back at Niehaus over Mkhwebane vote
Carl Niehaus said he was 'hurt and disappointed' that Supra Mahumapelo toed the party line.
ANC MP Supra Mahumapelo. Picture: Michel Bega
The ANC’s Supra Mahumapelo has clapped at criticism over him toeing the party line and voting for the removal of advocate Busiswe Mkhwebane.
Mahumapelo was among the 318 MPs who voted in favour of Section 194 committee report to remove Mkhwebane.
He received applause from many at Cape Town City Hall when he said “yes”.
The founder of the African Radical Economic Transformation (ARETA) Carl Niehaus said he was disappointed by Mahumapelo.
“Let me be brutally honest, I am hurt and deeply disappointed by Supra Mahumapelo and Lawrence McDonald. Honestly, I have expected so much better from them.
“They are among many MPs who sold out during the Section 194 impeachment vote, but they really should have known and done better. I said before the vote took place, that every MP who voted for Mkhwebane’s impeachment should be named and shamed. Excuses about so-called ‘strategy’ and keeping jobs and salaries can no longer hold. Such is simply self-serving, and rationalisations, without backbone and integrity,” said Niehaus.
No accountability
Mahumapelo, however, said he is not accountable to Niehaus.
“[I] am not an ARETA member, and never will I be one. I owe you no accountability on how I respond to my ANC political complexities of the moment, Carl,” he said.
READ MORE: EFF reserves right to legally challenge Mkhwebane’s removal
Niehaus, in turn, said calling out Mahumapelo was not about him owing accountability to ARETA.
“I have never tried to recruit you to ARETA. Anyhow, as a member of the ANC, you can’t be a member of ARETA. This is not about ARETA, it is about you. Unfortunately, it is always about how one responds to the ‘complexities of the moment’ that exposes one’s integrity or lack thereof.”
Dealing with MPs who don’t toe the party line
ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina said she would write a report to the party’s secretary-general Fikile Mbalula requesting for action to be taken against MP Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma after she was a no-show.
Majodina said Dlamini-Zuma did not send a letter of apology.
“Her absence was a shock to me. She has no apology and no permission to be absent. I can account for others, I know their whereabouts. I don’t know the whereabouts of Mama Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and as I usually do, I am packaging the report and sending it to the secretary-general’s office. It’s high time that they act one and for all. It’s enough now,” she said.
“The matter is already in the National Disciplinary Committee (NDC). Remember when they did a similar thing last year? There was no NDC in place, so two weeks ago, the matter was reported in the NDC. The NDC is going to act.”
