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‘We need a clean government, not another Phala Phala situation’ – Sisulu
Sisulu also made references to a remark attributed to Tokyo Sexwale about Ramaphosa's ANC presidency having been bought in 2017.
President Cyril Ramaphosa chats to Lindiwe Sisulu on the last day of the ANC National Conference on 20 December 2012 in Mangaung. Picture: Gallo Images / Foto24 / Felix Dlangamandla
African National Congress (ANC) National Executive Committee (NEC) member Lindiwe Sisulu says the criteria she will use in supporting and electing someone is the track record of the person in the ANC and in government.
She was speaking during an interview with the SABC on Sunday when she was asked about the coming ANC’s elective conference in December.
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“I would also use the track record of their honesty because we want [a] clean government, we’re dying for a clean government.
“We don’t want a situation where there is a Phala Phala and we don’t know what to do and we don’t want a government that is painted with a brush that has got nothing to do with the rest of what we’ve been doing and working on for so long…so I want a very clean person,” she said.
Sisulu says she does not know if she will serve in Cyril Ramaphosa’s cabinet if he is re-elected at the party’s elective conference in Nasrec.
Sisulu also made references to a remark attributed to Tokyo Sexwale about Ramaphosa’s presidency having been bought in 2017.
ALSO READ: Sexwale’s allegations about 2017 Nasrec conference being ‘bought’ cause waves
She said if it is true that Ramaphosa’s election was bought, that has to stop.
“We are a moral organisation, we are not about buying people and if that is the way, then we have to stop it.
“I know of countries that have gone a different route of electing presidents than the route we are using now, the route we’re using is wrong because the bigger the pocket from what it seems, the bigger the opportunity and that is a fact and it is therefore not allowing people to choose the best person they would want in a particular position,” she said.
Sisulu said it is about how many resources that particular person has to push a particular campaign and a particular agenda.
Whether Andre de Ruyter should be fired?
There have been growing calls in recent times for Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter to step down or be fired over the country’s never-ending electricity crisis.
However, Sisulu seems to have a different view, saying there is more that needs to be done than the CEO having to step down.
“I will not enter the fray of personalising the problem we have seen coming a long way and that problem we chose to have other options than concentrate on how do we improve this.
ALSO READ: De Ruyter hits back at critics ‘who style themselves as energy experts’
“When Deputy President Ramaphosa got into Cabinet, one of his responsibilities was to put up a war room and that’s how far back we’ve gone in dealing with the issue of energy and Eskom,” she said.
Sisulu said despite Ramaphosa having been the head of the war room at Eskom, the situation has been deteriorating over time to a point where it became an issue that the electorate punished the ANC for.
“We don’t need that, we could have solved Eskom and by the time we had the war room, a war room’s responsibility is to solve the problem.
RELATED: Ramaphosa denies claims he influenced decisions at Eskom to favour Glencore
“We should have from time to time been receiving reports that we can put into place and make sure that they work…this has been going on for far too long, the levels of electricity outages is indicative of an economy that is not doing very well,” she said.
ANC step-aside resolution
Sisulu likened the party’s step-aside resolution to pre-judging a case that is before the courts.
According to Sisulu, the rule only applies to certain people saying there are so many things that have gone wrong in the ANC but the step-aside resolution had not come into effect.
Several ANC members have been affected by the step-aside rule including suspended party secretary general Ace Magashule.
“By its very definition is after you have been charged and there are many cases out there, outstanding that have not come before the courts for one reason or another and therefore there are some people who are subjected to the step-aside resolution and there are some who will not because the case has not matured to get to the courts.
“I am hoping we will get back to this step-aside resolution and see that it applies across the board and we will have a mechanism of deciding at what point all of us will have a point at which we decide we believe now that this must kick in… Relying on the courts, means relying also on the preparedness of the people who are preparing the case,” she said.
Asked whether the resolution should stand, Sisulu said it should as it has a reason to stand but stressed that it should not be ‘selectively’ applied.
Sisulu said the Phala Phala scandal involving Ramaphosa would call for the step-aside rule until all of them are certain that there is nothing wrong, nothing illegal about it but for as long as it keeps hanging on the president, it keeps hanging on everyone… It’s not fair on us and I don’t think its fair on him either.
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