ANC backs off
Ruling party says it won’t act against rebel MP Makhosi Khoza, who has declared she will not toe the party line in no confidence vote on the president, as it will make her a ‘martyr’.
Her agenda is to irritate the ANC to the core.
Spokesperson says they don’t want to feed into her desire to be made to look like a martyr.
The ANC says it will not take any action against rebel MP Makhosi Khoza.
ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said taking action against her would only feed into her desire to leave the ANC and to be made to look like a martyr.
Speaking to The Citizen yesterday, Kodwa said the organisation believed that Khoza’s only agenda was to “irritate the ANC to the core”.
“Yes, Makhosi has transgressed every rule and law in the ANC, but we will not take any action that will fulfill her agenda, which is to eventually leave the ANC,” he added.
Khoza, who has been at the receiving end of death threats ever since she started speaking out in public over the challenges faced by the ANC, again did not mince her words at the Conference for the Future of South Africa convened by more than 130 civil society organisations on Mandela Day on Tuesday, when she said President Jacob Zuma was haunting the nation and should, therefore, step down.
She recently even went as far as saying that she would vote with her conscience in the motion of no confidence vote against Zuma.
Kodwa said there was a deliberate attempt to force the ANC into taking strong action against Khoza, so as to portray the ANC as a party that does not accept dissenting views.
“Makhosi has not been to [ANC headquarters] Luthuli House for a while, but goes around to share her concerns and views about the ANC in public, while the likes of Andrew Mlangeni and Kgalema Motlanthe have been to our offices and had discussions with secretary-general Gwede Mantashe.
“Our doors have always been open and Makhosi should know that she can come at any time without even making an appointment,” Kodwa said.
He said that at the recent ANC policy conference, behind closed doors, “people ventilated during robust discussions ... but the question has to be asked as to why Makhosi choose to express her issues in public without even speaking to the ANC directly”.
This week, Khoza finally received notification from parliament that she would be getting protection in the wake of the death threats. Recently, her daughter also received similar threats.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, parliament acknowledged that it became aware of the threats Khoza received while the portfolio committee on public service and administration she heads was conducting oversight outside of parliament. In a Facebook post yesterday, Khoza fired another broadside at the ANC leadership and specifically Police Minister Fikile Mbalula who, she claimed, had only tried to contact her on Tuesday. She said police crime intelligence had done a “security assessment” on her circumstances more than two months after she first reported the threats.
She said that after she opened cases with the police in Limpopo in March this year and in Hillcrest, in April, she was accused of ill-discipline.
She pointed out that Mbalula himself had “fuelled the threats” by saying that those ANC MPs who vote against President Jacob Zuma in the August 8 no-confidence motion were like “suicide bombers”.
Mbalula had threatened those who voted against Zuma in the motion would be expelled from the party. –