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Outgoing ANC president Jacob Zuma has called on the party’s members at the national conference to reflect on the kind of parliamentary culture the ANC espouses, as well as the kind of strategies and tactics to be used to “avoid counter-revolutionary tendencies” in the legislature.
Delivering his swansong speech as ANC leader, Zuma berated the media, the judiciary, civil society, opposition parties and some in the ANC’s own caucus in Parliament.
He also made a veiled threat against Parliament as he suggested that it may be going overboard in its attempts to hold the executive to account.
His remarks about Parliament came as he was talking about ill discipline, which he said continued to afflict the party and has taken new forms in the recent past, bordering on members publicly challenging the authority of the organisation.
“There have also been worse incidents of ill discipline where members openly side with and work with opposition parties and other formations that are hostile to the ANC, against positions adopted by the movement.
“We need to reaffirm the authority of the organisation over its individual members. There should be consequences for any member who acts and speaks contrary to the values, principles and political programme of the ANC,” he said.
He claimed that the “activist Parliament”, a notion adopted by the party at its conference in Polokwane, which was about Parliament rigorously holding the executive to account, was being abused by opposition parties who seek to discredit the government at all cost.
He warned: “The danger also exists for factional and personal interests to play themselves out in Parliament to the extent of the ruling party even voting itself out of power if this is left unchecked.”
Zuma said the strategy of how to manage this rigorous oversight by Parliament was not clear and called for the ANC conference to come up with strategies and tactics to be used “so that we do not permit counter-revolutionary tendencies in Parliament”.
In August, at least 26 ANC MPs voted with the opposition in the motion to remove Zuma from office.
The motion failed by 21 votes, but it was unprecedented that ANC MPs, under the protection of a secret ballot, voted against their own leader.
The party’s leadership in Parliament also pushed for the ground-breaking inquiries into governance failures at the SABC last year and at Eskom this year. These went ahead despite objections from Zuma’s supporters in the ANC.
They have previously accused party chief whip Jackson Mthembu of using his position in the caucus to fight the factional battles of the party.
Opposition MPs who are part of the Eskom inquiry, which is scheduled to resume next month, have called for Zuma to be summoned to give evidence relating to the investigation.
Mthembu had not responded to requests for comment at the time of publishing.
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