Justice Minister Lamola: ANC ‘conspirators’ who accuse the President of using the NPA to settle scores, must come forward

With the ANC national conference just less than two months away, ANC deputy president hopeful Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola hit back at those who have accused him and President Cyril Ramaphosa of using the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to settle political scores. 

Speaking at the Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation Inclusive Growth Forum in the Drakensberg over the weekend, the minister said the country is in the age of accountability which means that political elites and corporations are not exempt from facing the might of the law.  

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2022-08-24-dear-ronald-lamola-did-you-not-get-the-concourt-memo-to-parliament-on-establishing-an-integrity-commission/ 

“It is given in any society or democracy that there will be conspiracies that there is interference in the work of the prosecuting authority – there is someone behind the scene like Lamola or the President who is telling the NPA to arrest this one and not to arrest this one,” he said.

Lamola dared those who have made accusations against him and the President to use the NPA Act to take them to task. “…Anyone who does not do so is a conspirator, is a liar and a fraudster. There must be accountability in the country and we will not allow conspiracies to derail us from doing the job,” he said. 

“I challenge anyone who is part of this political cynicism in the ruling party, where those who are called into account run behind conspiracies. They have sections that can help them, I can be arrested, the President of the republic can be arrested. So this section of the NPA is very clear, anyone who has got evidence that I have interfered with the NPA, they can report me – I am liable to be prosecuted.

“I would have not done my duty if I did not quote this important section of the National Prosecuting Authority. The NPA section 32(b) says subject to this Constitution and act, no organ of state, employee or member nor any other person may improperly interfere, hinder the prosecuting authority or any member thereof in carrying out its powers and duties of functions.

Read with section 4(1) of the same act – any person that contravenes the provisions of 32(1)(b) shall be guilty of an offence and liable of  a conviction or crime or imprisonment …” he said.

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-06-10-free-state-asbestos-corruption-case-ace-magashule-claims-delays-deliberate-ahead-of-ancs-elective-conference/ 

Ramaphosa’s 2017 campaign focused on ending corruption within the party. This led to the implementation of the controversial step-aside rule which has affected some prominent politicians in the governing party.

In the past year, the NPA has cracked the whip on those alleged to have committed serious crimes. This has seen a number of high-profile politicians being charged, including suspended ANC Secretary-General Ace Magashule and former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede. The latest group of individuals to be arrested include former Eskom CEO Brian Molefe, former Transnet group chief financial officer Anoj Singh and former Transnet CEO Siyabonga Gama.

In a Daily Maverick article, Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu raised her concerns about the NPA, saying that it was applying selective justice. 

Earlier this week the ANC Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal structures held a joint press briefing at which they said the ANC’s step-aside guidelines were being used to fight factional battles. They are planning to have the guidelines completely scrapped at the national conference in December. The guidelines state that anyone who has been criminally charged can no longer serve in any capacity within the party and should step aside from their position in government or the party.

“We have also agreed that the step-aside rule is weakening the ANC and de-focusing all of us from ensuring that our organisation remains a vehicle for socioeconomic transformation,” Limpopo secretary Reuben Madadzhe said at the joint presser. DM