I fought for this country — Sisulu
● ANC heavyweight Lindiwe Sisulu has dug in her heels against attempts by the party to hold her to account for controversial statements about judges and the constitution, saying she had a right to freedom of speech because she had “fought for this country’’.
In a brief interview with the Sunday Times yesterday, Sisulu struck a defiant note when asked about the party’s move to haul her before its integrity commission.
ANC treasurer-general Paul Mashatile told journalists that Sisulu, the minister of tourism, is scheduled to appear before the ANC integrity commission and will attend a meeting with Deputy President David Mabuza.
But Sisulu told the Sunday Times yesterday that she was not aware of any decision for her to appear before the body of party elders and questioned on what grounds she would be summoned.
“I do not know anything about the integrity commission. I would have been the first person to know. Was I supposed to appear today? For what?
“I wasn’t at the NEC [national executive committee of the ANC]. I was at a funeral of a relative so I do not know what they discussed at the NEC. I guess it would be easier to go back to the people that have been giving you information that there is an integrity commission today.”
The party’s most recent NEC meeting decided that Sisulu should appear before the integrity commission following an opinion piece in which she attacked the judiciary, and the subsequent public spat with the presidency after it announced she had apologised at a meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa.
But her comments to the Sunday Times mean Sisulu remains defiant and willing to take the fight to her bosses at Luthuli House. She is believed to be campaigning to challenge Ramaphosa when the ANC elects new leaders in December.
Ramaphosa came under pressure to fire
her after she contradicted a statement from his office that said she had apologised for her attacks on black judges. However, insiders said the president was advised not to sack her immediately but wait for internal party processes as firing her could make her a victim — a tag she could use to boost her campaign. If Sisulu is seen to be defying the party, said the insiders, she would not be able to blame Ramaphosa for action against her.
Mashatile told journalists that Sisulu met with officials on Monday, when a decision was taken that she would appear before the integrity commission and meet with Mabuza.
“The officials of the ANC have met with minister Sisulu on Monday. There’s another meeting that is going to take place between her and the deputy president. I have been informed the integrity commission has called her. I don’t know when she is appearing before them but she will be doing so,” Mashatile said.
Luthuli House insiders claimed that the meeting with the commission was scheduled to take place yesterday, but spokesperson Pule Mabe said a date for the meeting had not been decided. A member of the integrity commission who asked not to be named because he does not have authority to speak on the matter said the date was being discussed between the commission and Sisulu.
However, Sisulu told the Sunday Times she did not see the need for her to appear before the commission as she was entitled to her opinion.
Asked how she felt about the turn of events since she wrote her opinion piece, she said: “I don’t know, I think free speech is guaranteed in the same constitution they want to uphold. So I do not understand at what point free speech is limited for other people.”
Questioned on whether she was being slammed for being bold enough to challenge the sequence of events that took place between her and Ramaphosa, she said: “Well, I have always been bold. I fought for this country bold. I don’t know how many of the people that are talking have fought.
“I fought, I am a soldier. I gave up my life for this country so I am not perturbed. I am just doing what I was brought up to do, which is to fight for my country, and I am doing that.
“I do not know of anybody who has gone through what I have gone through. I do not know anybody who has fought for this country amongst the people that you are talking to. I did. Physically. I am a soldier in my own right. So I am not particularly worried about it.”
Asked about Sisulu’s comments, Mabe said the ANC would not “to and fro with comrade Sisulu in public”. He said the issue between the ANC and Sisulu is not for public consumption. “It’s internal matter ... so internal processes will unfold,” he said.
Ramaphosa’s allies are said to be frustrated with the president’s approach in dealing with Sisulu. A senior NEC member in the Ramaphosa faction said there was no need for all the ANC internal processes to deal with her.
“I don’t know why does she have to go to the DP [Mabuza] maybe because the DP is in the deployment committee, I don’t know. But she’s deployed by the president, she serves at the behest of the president, I don’t know why he doesn’t just call her.
“It’s his prerogative, that’s his job. He must do his job. The president must just do his job. He can’t delegate this because she undermined him, she called him a liar. Publicly so. So why do you take the matter to the DP?” said the president’s ally.