Ramaphosa slams ‘ill-discipline’ of ANC MPs’ attack on chief whip
DEPUTY President Cyril Ramaphosa has come out in support of ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu after he was publicly attacked by a group of party MPs this week over a debate on state capture.
Speaking during an “interactive session” with members of parliament’s Press Gallery Association, Ramaphosa hit out at the group of MPs, who are seen as supporters of President Jacob Zuma, saying he took a dim view on the matter, and action should be taken against the MPs.
The ANC presidential hopeful said the MPs – who accused Mthembu of colluding with the DA on the scheduling of this week’s state capture debate – had shown an extreme lack of discipline.
Ramaphosa, who is seen as one of the leading contenders to replace Zuma at the party’s national conference scheduled for this month, said the MPs should have raised their concerns internally rather than in an open press conference. The MPs are part of a group who recently arrived uninvited at ANC headquarters Luthuli House in a failed mission to persuade party leaders to instruct parliament to abort its inquiry on state capture allegations.
Ramaphosa said the necessary party structures were dealing with the matter after Mthembu reported the group to party bosses.
“That is a serious ill-discipline. My view is that the MPs who attacked their own chief whip in the most public way did show great ill-discipline.
“If they have concerns about the chief whip they should have raised it in the party.
“They should have raised it with the chief whip himself.
“But the matter is being discussed. I take a very dim view [with the manner in which] this issue was raised.
“They came across, this is how it might be looked at and interpreted, that these people [are] in favour of state capture,” he said.
Ramaphosa, who was engaging parliamentary correspondents in his capacity as leader of government in the national legislature, said the oversight institution had performed well this year.
It had tackled issues of national importance such as the nationalisation of banks, the eighth motion of no-confidence in Zuma and various oversight inquiries by portfolio committees. — DDC