ANC axes Khoza as chairperson

DEFIANT ANC MP Dr Makhosi Khoza became the first casualty as the fallout over President Jacob Zuma’s motion of no confidence deepened yesterday.

The ANC Youth League charged that Khoza, who has accused her party of supporting kleptocracy by keeping Zuma, had to be thrown out of Parliament at once.

Yesterday, the party announced that she was sacked as the chairperson of the public service and administration committee.

The ANC’s alliance partners, the SACP and Cosatu, yesterday rejected Khoza’s ousting, after warning earlier in the week that purging her would divide the ruling party.

ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu said they had received a “directive from the organisation to relieve” Khoza as head of the committee “owing to the irretrievable breakdown of relations between herself and ANC members of the committee”.

The ANC lawmakers were unhappy about Khoza’s public utterances ahead of the no confidence motion that she would defy the party line and vote with her conscience. She publicly admitted this week that she supported the motion against the president, which was conducted through a secret ballot.

ANC Youth League secretary-general, Njabulo Nzuza, said removing Khoza from the committee was not enough. “She must be removed from Parliament and be purged from the organisation. She is working with opposition forces to collapse the government,” he charged.

But the ruling party’s alliance partners yesterday slammed the decision to dump Khoza, saying it would further entrench divisions in the party and that the ANC needed to self-introspect instead.

SACP acting national spokesperson, Mhlekwa Nxumalo, said the decision was a product of infighting in the ANC.

“It seems there is a dominant faction that seems to be getting everything they want from the ANC. This decision is going to cause more problems in the ANC. We don’t think this is going to help the ANC in any way.”

Nxumalo said they had warned the ANC about the dangers of embarking on a witchhunt.