Deprecated: str_replace(): Passing null to parameter #3 ($subject) of type array|string is deprecated in /home/zbyiujsu/public_html/wp-content/plugins/jnews-social-share/class.jnews-initial-counter.php on line 40
Deprecated: str_replace(): Passing null to parameter #3 ($subject) of type array|string is deprecated in /home/zbyiujsu/public_html/wp-content/plugins/jnews-social-share/class.jnews-initial-counter.php on line 40
Deprecated: str_replace(): Passing null to parameter #3 ($subject) of type array|string is deprecated in /home/zbyiujsu/public_html/wp-content/plugins/jnews-social-share/class.jnews-initial-counter.php on line 40
Deprecated: str_replace(): Passing null to parameter #3 ($subject) of type array|string is deprecated in /home/zbyiujsu/public_html/wp-content/plugins/jnews-social-share/class.jnews-initial-counter.php on line 40
![Mkhize Says ANC Step Aside Rule Was Made To Deal With Opponents Of Those In Power 1 Digital Vibes: Ex-Health Minister, Mkhize Slams SIU Findings - SurgeZirc SA](https://surgezirc.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Zweli-Mkhize.jpg)
Zweli Mkhize, a contender for the ANC presidency, attacked the step-aside rule of the party as well as the criteria for NEC nominations established by the elections committee of the organization, which is chaired by the late deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe.
Mkhize was giving one last push in his campaign for party president as he spoke to ANC branches at a gathering in Soweto’s Dlamini Multipurpose Center.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: ANC Expels Carl Niehaus For His Involvement In Zuma’s Arrest
The step-aside rule, which resulted in people like ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule being suspended, “undermined ANC branches where the authority resides,” according to Mkhize.
Mkhize vowed to speak out loudly when the ruling is challenged on Friday, the first day of the ANC national elective conference at Nasrec, south of Johannesburg.
Mkhize asserted that he thought the Motlanthe committee’s step-aside rule and the nomination guidelines for the NEC were specifically designed to deal with opponents of the faction currently in power.
In light of the fact that the party had not held its customary midterm national general council (NGC), where party policies are evaluated, the former health minister urged branches to fight back against this, stating that it was crucial.
“When the conference opens [on Friday], the closed session will start by discussing constitutional changes and discussing all the rules and regulations that have affected the processes that have affected the nomination of members of the NEC. A lot of those regulations have got challenges,” said Mkhize.
“We are all crying foul of the step-aside rule. Any so-called rule that is used to purge some and protect others is not a good rule at all.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Ramaphosa’s Response On Phala Phala: “Relax, There’s No Issue”
“We also cannot have nomination rules that are changed as we go along, regulations that did not even have the input of branches. Normally, conference is the one that makes amendments to regulations, checked with the branches if they are all accurate and then they are implemented,” said Mkhize to loud applause.
“In some cases [as things stand] the regulations come out, we thought we all agreed at NEC and understand it and depending on the political climate, it is hurriedly changed to say ‘here is the most updated rule’. You do not run an organisation like that.
“This is undermining the branches and the authority of the branches where the power of the organisation resides.”
Mkhize said that because the NGC had not been called, “this time it is even worse” and that “all these regulations are changing and, as things stand, these rules are problematic because they are implemented in a pay-as-you-go manner.”
When questioned by the media following his speech about why he had never brought up the subject of the rules and regulations he believed were unjust when they were adopted at sessions of the NEC of which he was a member, the former KwaZulu-Natal premier claimed he had always opposed them.
“You may be labouring under the impression that this step aside was never challenged, it is untrue. We have raised these issues. When the time step aside was raised [at NEC] we said it must go to the branches
“It came back from the branches. There were issues but there was never a process of dealing with them. But some of the rules have gone to the branches but there was never a time of saying let’s get feedback. The delegates at conference need to close that issue.”
Mkhize expressed his frustration over party national chairperson Gwede Mantashe’s decision to abruptly adjourn a meeting on the findings of the Phala Phala panel when more than a dozen members were still waiting to speak.
“In this case, we are talking about a meeting which was uncharacteristically terminated at the point when there were still many people to speak.”