ANC whip dumped for dissent

An ANC member of parliament who was once hauled over the coals for criticising the leadership of chief whip Mathole Motshekga has been fired as whip of the powerful public finances watchdog committee, Scopa.

Mandla Mbili was the most notable casualty of the wide ranging series of changes announced by Motshekga during a closed special caucus meeting of the ANC on Tuesday.

Committee whips are MPs entrusted by their political parties with maintaining discipline and ensuring that MPs attend, and conduct themselves decorously, at committee meetings. They get higher salaries than back-benchers and are normally the first to be considered when the ruling party wants to appoint a chairman for a parliamentary portfolio committee.

Mbili's fight with Motshekga entered the public domain in March when Mbili tackled Motshekga for telling journalists that there was no need for cabinet ministers to appear before Scopa because they had a country to run and Scopa wanted to parade and embarrass ministers.

In an interview with the Sunday Times last year, Mbili said Motshekga had been told by the ANC caucus to write to the speaker withdrawing his statements and to make a public apology for unauthorised comments.

"The problem is that the chief whip made this statement as an individual, with no mandate from the ruling party. This caused problems because we then had to clarify this in a strategy meeting, where the decision was taken that he should withdraw that statement.

"We then had to go to caucus to resolve this because it had the potential to cause serious damage," said Mbili last year.

His comments earned him the wrath of Motshekga, who hauled him before the caucus disciplinary committee, which he told that he been misquoted by the newspaper. He escaped with a slap on the wrist.

But Mbili's relationship with Motshekga has since broken down as a result of the public spat and talk of his being removed from Scopa. Speculation about his being fired has been doing the rounds in parliament for the better part of last year.

On Friday, the often outspoken Mbili refused to comment.

Moloto Mothapo, spokesman for Motshekga, denied that Mbili had been fired because of his spat with Motshekga.

But he refused to provide reasons for the demotion.

"We do not comment on individual cases of deployment," he said.

Those appointed whips include ANC rising stars Buti Manamela, national secretary of the Young Communist League, who is now whip of the labour portfolio committee, and ANC Youth League national executive committee member Stella Ndabeni, the new whip of the communications portfolio committee.

Veteran MP Ben Turok was appointed chairman of the ethics and members' interests committee.