Mantashe unimpressed with stalwarts' call for candidates to step aside if accused of corruption
29 March 2019
ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe expressed disdain for a call from ANC veterans and stalwarts for those who were implicated in corruption to voluntarily remove themselves from the party's lists.
Speaking to News24 during a campaign trail in Evaton, Mantashe said the call did not hold any weight. He warned stalwarts against the use of media briefings to air their concerns.
"If you don't go close to those structures, your views are not going to be having weight and this is another example."
On Wednesday, party veterans held a press briefing urging South Africans to vote for the ANC. They were critical of some people who appeared on the party's lists for the National Assembly and provincial legislatures.
President of the veterans' league, Snuki Zikalala, said that during its provincial conference in Gauteng, the league urged leaders to think carefully when accepting nominations to represent the ANC in Parliament, News24 reported.
"We urge them to step aside if their nomination may be negatively perceived by the electorate and if in any way, they are undeserving of the confidence of the electorate," Zikalala read from the Gauteng declarations.
"I was perturbed looking at some of the names on the list," said another veteran, Mavuso Msimang.
He questioned why people who had court findings against them had allowed their names to be submitted along with other credible leaders to the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC).
Msimang said the ANC conference in 2017 spelt out the kind of leaders the ANC wanted to see serving the party.
Responding, Mantashe said party members were voted in on the basis of how active they were in the party despite allegations of corruption.
"If stalwarts are saying anything else, they're going to miss the point. Those stalwarts....when they were very active, I told them that listen, move into the structures of the ANC. The structures of the ANC will give up on their right to make decisions and give it to people because they are senior and stalwarts."
Mantashe added that stalwarts should have participated in the processes and not called a press conference after seeing the lists
"That list is registered with the IEC. It cannot be changed. It can only be changed in the next 12 months."
ANC leaders Nomvula Mokonyane, Bathabile Dlamini, Mosebenzi Zwane and Malusi Gigaba were all implicated in testimony before the judicial commission of inquiry into state capture.
Dlamini and Gigaba were also found, by the courts, to have lied under oath.
