ANC denies acting unilaterally on Molefe move
SACP angry that due process wasn’t followed on appointment
THE SACP’s provincial structures in North West and Limpopo have condemned the ANC for the appointment of Brian Molefe to Parliament without following proper processes.
But the ANC has defended itself, saying it has followed the required processes and would not want to engage the SACP in public on the matter.
This came as Parliament announced yesterday that ANC MP Makhosi Khoza has been moved from the finance committee in the National Assembly to the public service and administration committee.
ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu was not available for comment on the redeployment of Khoza.
Reports emerged at the weekend that Molefe would be deployed to the finance committee. However, earlier Mthembu had refused to say where Molefe would be sent to once he was sworn in as an MP.
He had said they would wait for his arrival in Parliament before a decision was taken.
The SACP’s provincial secretary in the Moses Kotane district of North West, Madoda Sambatha, said they had learnt through the media of Molefe’s appointment to Parliament.
He said the party was not consulted by the ANC on the deployment of Molefe.
“There was no consultation or engagements with alliance partners, or at least with the SACP as an alliance partner,” he said. “This pattern of unilateralism was entrenched by the provincial leadership of the ANC since the 2014 general election.
“The fellows have appropriated to themselves, exclusively, the prerogative to change lists, even without involving the provincial deployment committee.”
It would not have been a problem for the ANC to follow all the processes, including consulting those in the alliance, added Sambatha.
Limpopo provincial secretary Gilbert Kganyago said the appointment of Molefe as an MP had raised concerns in certain quarters.
He said it flew in the face of the Public Protector’s State of Capture report, in which Molefe was implicated.
But the Progressive Professionals Forum defended Molefe, saying he was not found guilty by any court of law. It said even the Public Protector had not made adverse findings against him in the report.
ANC provincial secretary in North West Dakota Legoete denied claims by the SACP in the province that there was no consultation.
He said they did not want to engage the SACP in a public platform on this matter.
However, the ANC had followed all due processes, including Molefe’s name on its depleted list.
“If they think there is anything we have done, they can use those platforms,” said Legoete.
There were internal processes that all alliance partners used to engage on any matter, he pointed out.
But he respected the right of the SACP as an independent organisation to make its own decisions.
If the party was aggrieved it could raise these matters in internal alliance structures, said Legoete.