Johannesburg - The future of controversial ANC leaders who made the party’s list to Parliament and provincial legislatures despite facing serious allegations of wrongdoing now hangs in the balance.
On Monday, ANC head of elections Fikile Mbalula said the party’s integrity commission’s decision would have to be respected if it recommends that some of the party’s tainted candidates on lists must step aside.
The governing party has been facing criticism from its stalwarts for including on its list members who are implicated in allegations of state capture and other wrongdoing.
Briefing the media at the party’s Luthuli House headquarters on the 30-days countdown to voting day, Mbalula said while the party’s current list was not in contravention of the country’s electoral laws, there were questions of integrity which the party knew had to be addressed.
Mbalula said the decisions of the integrity commission after it had combed the list would have to be implemented.
“Should the integrity commission arrive at a conclusion that certain people on the list must step aside, the ANC will have spoken,” Mbalula said.
He distanced the party from individual allegations faced by its leaders relating to state capture and other allegations, adding that affected politicians would have to be prepared to face justice on their own.
“The ANC has never sent anybody to be corrupt. If individuals (chose) to be caught up in corrupt activities where they are deployed, they do not represent the ANC.
“The ANC must look at those individuals and make a determination in terms of its own processes as to how we will deal with those particular individuals,” he said.
Mbalula said while the ANC was duty-bound not to shy away from issues of integrity, it had to be careful and not victimise and single out individuals when it combs its list, as this would cause divisions.
“The integrity committee will look at the entirety of the ANC list, so that if there are question marks about Mbalula, he must be called to explain, and if that explanation is not only sufficient but also does not augur well with the integrity of the ANC, he must step aside,” he said.
Mbalula distanced the ANC-led provincial and national government from the ongoing protests over service delivery in Alexandra.
“We are not going to take responsibility for things that local government in Johannesburg must do under (City of Joburg mayor Herman) Mashaba and say those things belong to us because we are national government,” he said.