ANC veterans push for ministers and Members of Parliament implicated in VBS or State Capture to step aside

The ANC Veterans League is campaigning for two MPs, a deputy minister and a minister, to step aside because they are implicated in State Capture and corruption.

At a memorial for the late Pravin Gordhan in Johannesburg, Veterans League chairperson Snuki Zikalala said the ANC’s “existential crisis” of corruption demanded a more muscular step-aside rule. 

The Daily Maverick understands that in October, the ANC’s National Executive Committee will hear formal calls for ANC MPs Cedrick Frolick and Malusi Gigaba, Deputy Minister for Water and Sanitation David Mahlobo, and those implicated in the VBS scandal, including Justice Minister Thembi Simelane, to step aside.

Frolick, Gigaba, and Mahlobo have starring roles in the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture. Before the election in May, the Integrity Commission said they should not be on the party’s lists for election, but its National Executive Committee green-lit their participation because “due process” had not been followed.

“We believe it’s renewal or death – the ANC is running out of time,” said Zikalala at Gordhan’s memorial on Sunday, 22 September 2024. “We believe the ANC is facing an existential crisis characterised by rampant corruption, resource-inspired factionalism, careerism and money politics. Comrade PG (Pravin Gordhan) despised and fought against this, most heroically and consistently in the form of State Capture.”  

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The Veterans League will push for the three and the VBS accused to face the party’s disciplinary committee, and it wants to change the party’s step-aside rule back to its original intention.

The step-aside rule was initially crafted as a moral part of the ANC integrity code for members implicated in corruption. It provided that once named in a verified instance of bribery, members should use their conscience, step aside, go through legal processes, and then return to a leadership role if cleared. Former Cabinet minister Zizi Kodwa followed this route. Gigaba, Frolick and Mahlobo did not.

However, because so many ANC members are named in instances of malfeasance, the party made the rule more legalistic and changed it to apply only after criminal charges. Most ANC members rely on this interpretation because the National Prosecuting Authority is super-slow at bringing charges against political leaders. This is because the NPA has taken years to reform after the ravages of State Capture and also because there is no abuse of political office offence in law – a lacuna former chief justice and State Capture Commission chairperson Raymond Zondo said should be remedied by law. 

In August, Daily Maverick and News24 revealed that Simelane had received a soft loan  of more than half a million rand from a VBS broker when she was the mayor of Polokwane. On her watch, the municipality made at least five deposits totalling R349-million into the mutual bank.

Simelane’s involvement came to light after a key witness negotiated a plea deal.

“We have long said those involved in VBS should not be on party lists,” said Zikalala. 

Meanwhile, City Press reported on 22 September 2024 that the Justice Department and the NPA were at loggerheads. The report said Simelane’s people had raised concerns about why the allegations about her took seven years to surface, and only did so once she had been appointed to her Cabinet post, implying a conspiracy against her. 

The NPA says prosecutions take time, and new information only came to light when VBS chairperson Tshifhiwa Matodzi turned state witness. (For more, read Pauli van Wyk’s report here.) The Justice Department will also not give the Investigating Directorate full and unhindered access to the State Capture Commission’s database, which is needed to mount successful grand corruption prosecutions. 

Gigaba was implicated in Gupta network-linked State Capture in all his Cabinet portfolios. Frolick was involved in corruption related to Bosasa, the prisons and facilities management company. Mahlobo was implicated in state security-linked corruption. The commission recommended all three face further investigations and possible charges. DM

An amendment was made to this article on September 24, 2024, to reflect accurately the revelation in the August article by Daily Maverick and News24.