By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is allowed to sit through today’s special ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting and is expected to hear the final decision of the party’s integrity committee regarding the Phala Phala saga.
The NEC convened a special sitting in Nasrec, primarily to deal with all outstanding reports from the party’s intergrity committee.
Ramaphosa met with the committee earlier in 2022.
Questions the integrity commission would have to answer, was whether Ramaphosa’s actions regarding the Phala Phala matter brought the party into disrepute and if he should step aside.
While the ANC NEC backed Ramaphosa against calls for his removal just few days ago, this was yet another hurdle as his term of office winds down.
ANC national spokesperson Pule Mabe said the integrity commission would present those reports, along with their recommendations.
Mabe says on the programme for today’s meeting are presentations by acting secretary-general Paul Mashatile who is set to indicate the state of readiness for the national elective conference that should start next week.
He has also confirmed that there has been an agreement not to process outstanding integrity commission reports through the national working committee first before they are discussed at the NEC to avoid leaks.
“If the NEC wants to take a position on those, it does so, and through the statement that we issue at the conclusion of the NEC, we then convey what is the decision of the NEC.”
This will be the second last special sitting of the NEC before its five-year term of office comes to an end and new leadership is elected in the upcoming conference.
Meanwhile the former president of the ANC Women’s League Bathabile Dlamini’s legal representative, Boingotlo Maroane, of Tim Sukazi Incorporated, says her client “intends to institute legal proceedings” against the ANC’s electoral committee.
On Wednesday, Dlamini was informed that she had been eliminated from contesting a position in the NEC following a vetting process, because of her conviction for perjury.
She was one of the frontrunners, and had 856 nominations for her return to the NEC.
The former minister of social development was found guilty of perjury and sentenced to four years’ in prison or a fine of R200 000.
ANC electoral rules adopted by the NEC ahead of the nomination process excluded members who had been convicted or who had served a prison sentence from contesting for a leadership position.