ANC 'shocked, outraged' by threats to MP Khoza
24 May 2017
Cape Town – ANC Chief Whip Jackson Mthembu is shocked by alleged threats against ANC MP Dr Makhosi Khoza from the eThekwini ANC Youth League.
"We are shocked and outraged by these threats, particularly as they are allegedly coming from sections of the ANC," Mthembu said on Tuesday.
"It is completely unacceptable that an ANC MP would be made to feel unsafe as a result of their work as a Member of Parliament."
Mthembu's office on Tuesday said it had received a letter from Khoza detailing threats she had received in the past week.
Members of the ANCYL’s eThekwini region distributed Khoza’s address on social media last week after she posted on Facebook that she could not vote for an "amoral leader".
Mthembu wrote to National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete and ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe asking for their advice on how to ensure Khoza and those close to her were safe. He advised Khoza to report all intimidation and death threats to police.
"We will do everything possible and within our powers to ensure the safety of comrade Khoza and any other ANC MP who is being intimidated for carrying out their functions as Members of Parliament."
ANCYL eThekwini members took issue with Khoza's post last week and called for her to be disciplined and recalled, News24 reported.
They called on members to picket outside her house, where she lived with her children. She is a single mother. She had been advised to stay away "because harm was in my way if I were to do so", City Press reported.
Khoza told News24 on Monday that she was still waiting for a response to the threats from the ANC.
"We'll await interaction between the Speaker and the chairperson [Khoza] regarding the matter," Parliament spokesperson Moloto Mothapo said on Monday.
"The Speaker would obviously be appraised of the matter through such interaction and possibly pronounce. Therefore we'd rather not pre-empt such engagement at this stage."
Khoza received death threats in March, after conducting an oversight visit to an Mpumalanga hospital. She was there in her capacity as chairperson of the portfolio committee on public service and administration.
She was critical of the way management had been running the institution.
At the time she told News24 that, as a politician, she was used to receiving threats, but was concerned when they were threats to her life, rather than her job or reputation.
