Johannesburg - The fallout over the ANC’s lists for top jobs in Parliament and provincial legislatures deepened on Sunday.
With just a few weeks before the elections, fiery ANC leader Tony Yengeni came out guns blazing, throwing his weight behind ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule over the list.
This is after reports that State Security Minister Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba accused Magashule of tampering with the list.
On Sunday Yengeni rallied behind Magashule.
“People must allow the secretary-general do his work. State security should not prevent him from doing that. It is clear that there is a lot of politicking,” he said.
ANC spokesperson Dakota Legote also dismissed Letsatsi-Duba’s allegations.
“Our processes are transparent as a democratic organisation. The secretary-general is but only part of the national list committee.
“The whole process is administered and run by the committee together with provincial list committees, which are composed of leaders of the ANC, the alliance and veterans.
“The ANC secretary-general is only the chairperson of the committee,” Legote said.
“The list committee is a subcommittee of the ANC national executive committee, so once they list is done, it is brought to the NEC for ratification and adoption.
“All these things are done in line with the guidelines.
“The list is not a personal fiefdom of Ace Magashule as the secretary general. It is owned by the ANC,” the spokesperson said.
He said the party was currently instituting an internal process into Letsatsi-Duba’s accusations.
The minister had not responded to inquiries by the time of publication.
This came as calls grow in the ANC-led tripartite alliance for members implicated in state capture and corruption to withdraw from lists for Parliament and provincial legislatures.
The SACP endorsed the latest call by veteran ANC members for tainted leaders to withdraw their names from the list of candidates for the May 8 elections.
ANC elders, who include Sheila Sisulu, Mary Metcalfe and Murphy Morobe, appealed in a letter to the implicated leaders, saying withdrawing their candidature would be in the interest of those who continued to vote for the ANC.
“Our strong belief is that candidates on the ANC list should be above ethical reproach, for that is what South Africans expect of the party that played a pivotal role in ushering in democracy in South Africa,” the letter reads.
The elders did not single out any names but said the country had heard through Guptaleaks how members of the Gupta family befriended certain ANC leaders to obtain lucrative government tenders in state-owned entities such as Eskom, Denel, Transnet and others.
They also praised President Cyril Ramaphosa for his decision to set up a range of commissions to probe corruption.