By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
@GalloImages.
The African National Congress (ANC) Head of Policy Jeff Radebe says that the party’s Integrity Committee has been asked to finalise hearings for party members implicated in the state capture.
Radebe was speaking on the eve of the party’s ANC policy conference, said this was important for the ANC’s efforts to bring about renewal of the party, which has been plagued by a series of corruption scandals implicating members of the party and some of its government deployees in the Cabinet.
He said about 200 names of current and former ANC members had been identified in the 5,000-page state capture report.
Radebe said the work was expected to start at the end of August, with the ANC’s integrity commission expected to complete the work in six months.
The party said its NEC meeting from July 2 to 4 had adopted a multi-layered action plan to ensure constitutional, legislative and structural changes proposed by the chairperson of the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture, Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, which it hopes to take forward for more deliberations this weekend.
Radebe said the fundamental renewal of the ANC as an effective agent of transformation requires that the organisation confronts corruption in all its forms, whether it’s in government, society and within the movement itself.
“As part of this effort, the National Conference resolved to support the establishment of a Judicial Commission of Inquiry into state capture.”
“The terms of reference of the judicial commission of inquiry into state capture were in the main to investigate allegations of state capture, corruption and fraud,” said Radebe.
The commission of inquiry was established in January 2018, chaired by then Deputy Chief Justice Zondo.
The final report of the State Capture Commission was submitted to President Cyril Ramaphosa in June this year before it was released to the public.
Ramaphosa has until October this year to formally submit the report to Parliament together with implementation plans on the Commission’s recommendations.
Step aside rule
The contentious step-aside resolution is also expected to be a sensitive issue at the policy conference.
The step-aside resolution, which was adopted at the ANC’s 2017 conference to distance the party from corrupt members, will be challenged by the ANC’s provinces at the policy conference.
The rule will be challenged by members from Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal, who insist it has divided the party and was inconsistent with the ANC’s constitution.
Radebe said the party is yet to receive a formal request on repealing the resolution, adding the party would deal with the matter once it was brought up at the conference.
Staff Salaries
ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe said the party’s treasurer-general, Paul Mashatile, communicated with staff and that some had begun receiving payments for outstanding salaries.
On Monday, ANC staffers picketed outside provincial offices and at the party’s headquarters at Luthuli House.
The employees had not been paid for two months.
The staffers questioned why the party had the funds to finance its policy conference, but no money to pay its workers.
He said Mashatile had committed to paying the staffers.
“The treasurer-general is dealing with that, and commitment has been made already. Those using our local bank would already have begun receiving their monies. Issues such as medical aid have already been addressed,” Mabe said.