Mthembu tipped as next ANC chief whip

FORMER ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu is widely tipped to become the party’s chief whip.

Independent Media has reliably been informed that an announcement is imminent.

Mthembu is believed to be the front- runner to succeed Stone Sizani. National Assembly house chairwoman Thoko Didiza is also said to be in the running.

Didiza could not be reached for comment last night.

Didiza was public works minister before she quit Parliament in 2008. She also served as deputy minister and later minister of agriculture and land affairs in the early 2000s.

Mthembu, who is the chairman of the portfolio committee on environmental affairs, referred enquiries to the ANC.

ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa and another spokeswoman, Khusela Sangoni, could not be reached for comment. Moloto Mothapo, spokesman for the acting chief whip Doris Dlakude, could also not be reached for comment.

The ANC has been without a chief whip for three weeks since Sizani’s appointment as ambassador to Germany. Not a single ANC chief whip has served a full term.

The ANC took a resolution at its Mangaung conference in 2012 that its chief whip must be a serving member of the national executive committee.

The acting chief whip, Dlakude, is not an NEC member – however, Mthembu and Didiza are.

Sizani had a tough time after he took over in June 2014 when EFF members started disrupting proceedings in the House.