Durban - The ANC Youth League (ANCYL) in KwaZulu-Natal has vowed to fight tooth and nail for the removal of the governing party’s step-aside rule at the upcoming provincial elective conference set for this weekend.
The province’s ANCYL’s interim task team co-ordinator, Mafika Mndebele, said they were concerned that the policy, in its current form was being used to purge members who held different political views.
He was addressing ANC members who came out in their numbers to support the ANC’s eThekwini region chairperson, Zandile Gumede, when she appeared for the start of her fraud and corruption trial in the Durban High Court yesterday.
The case, which involves 22 accused including business entities, was adjourned to July 27 for a pre-trial conference following challenges by some of the accused regarding their legal representatives.
Mndebele told ANC members and supporters they were disappointed that the case had been adjourned, while the governing party’s elective conference was just days away.
“We have questions as to why there has been another adjournment because all the technicalities were supposed to have been addressed during a pre-trial (conference) in May; now next week there is another pre-trial (conference),” said Mndebele, adding that Gumede’s legal team was ready to proceed with the trial, so that her innocence could be proved swiftly to enable her to continue with her life.
The youth league co-ordinator cited “sinister forces at play” over the trial delay, saying this had been made to coincide with the provincial elective conference.
“There are members from different branches who have said they would like Zandile Gumede to be the provincial treasurer, but are unable to exercise such a right to vote her into this position because there is this pending matter hanging over her head,” said Mndebele.
He added that the provincial conference needed “brave people who would not be swayed by money or other forms of inducements”.
Speaking to The Mercury, Mndebele emphasised their opposition to the step-aside rule and its “questionable application”. “We will definitely be lobbying for this policy to be removed in its current form because it is against the prescripts of the Constitution, which emphasises that one is innocent until proved guilty,” he said.
Mndebele said they are challenging the policy by engaging individual delegates, branches and regions, expressing optimism that their position would be favoured by many in the ANC.
EThekwini, which is the ANC’s biggest region in KZN with 400 delegates attending the elective conference, is likely to determine whether the scrapping of the step-aside policy becomes the province’s mandate at the party’s national policy conference. Many branch members have also expressed vehement opposition to the policy, arguing that it is not applied evenly, but appears to target certain individuals in the governing party.
Zama Sokhabase, ANC Women’s League leader and eThekwini executive committee member, said they were concerned that the case has been dragging on for four years without any conclusion in sight. She also praised party members who were part of the regional conference for their “firm stance against manipulation”.
“… eThekwini delegates, you have demonstrated that you are not swayed given the huge amounts of money that were dangled before you, but you stood firm and we hope you will continue to do so,” said the Exco member who has been on Gumede’s side since the trial started. The eThekwini region’s deputy secretary Nkosenhle Madlala said they were not focused on provincial politics, but were concentrating on solidifying their support in the region. While noting that some regions had pronounced on their preferred candidates for provincial leadership, Madlala insisted that they would not be drawn into discussing names.
“We appreciate what some regions have done, but their dynamics are different from ours and we would not want to compare ourselves with them,” said Madlala. He admitted there were consultations with ANC members across the province, who would be represented in the elective conference this weekend.
At the court appearance, ANC members and supporters held up placards expressing support for Gumede and former president Jacob Zuma, while others called for the removal of President Cyril Ramaphosa.