Motlanthe defends timing of ANC’s disciplinary action against Zuma

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Former ANC Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe has defended the ruling party’s timing of its disciplinary action against former Party President Jacob Zuma.  Motlanthe is on the campaign trail for the ANC in Soweto.

Zuma last year threw his weight as leader behind the new political party uMkhonto weSizwe and encouraged the electorate to vote for the party in the May polls.

The ANC previously indicated there was no need to take action against its former leader as he had voluntarily left the organisation. This is despite Zuma maintaining that he was still a member of the governing party.

Motlanthe says the organisation had to ensure that it was fair to the former ANC leader.

“The organisation has to ensure that it follows proper procedure because in all cases of ill-discipline, there are two standards to measure fairness. The first one is whether you have a substantive case against the individual. The second one is whether you followed fair procedures. So procedural fairness is one of the tests for being fair and just to whoever you have a relationship with as an organisation.”

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Meanwhile, Legal Analyst Mpumelelo Zikalala says the disciplinary hearing for Zuma is long overdue.

The former president is expected to attend a disciplinary hearing next week Tuesday.

This was disclosed in a document by the ANC’s National Disciplinary Committee (NDC).

Zuma has allegedly been charged with two counts.

He is accused of contravening the ANC constitution when he publicly endorsed the newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK) and when he appeared on the candidate list of the party.

Zikalala says, “It was about time in which they were going to remind the former president and say to him either you resign as being the member of the ANC, if you are not going to do that then, we are going to assist you by bringing you in front of the disciplinary process, you [know] what the Cconstitution is, you’ve been at the helm of this party.”

“You know exactly what the rules are. If you look at your rule four and your rule five, they clearly state what the duties are, hence the oath that you have taken. If you break that oath by making or by joining other party’s or publicly endorsing them, then you’ve broken the ultimate rule of the ANC Constitution,” adds Zikalala.