Mbalula: Don't pursue disciplinary charges against Zuma

Police minister Fikile Mbalula has said that he does not believe the ANC should pursue disciplinary charges against former president Jacob Zuma.

“It would have meant the ANC would have to go for him‚” Mbalula said on Sunday in an interview with the SABC.

Mbalula said the ANC NEC’s decision to recall Zuma was a “last resort”.

“It (ANC) has got no vengeance or whatsoever. President Ramaphosa led from the front.”

Mbalula said a cabinet reshuffle “must come” and he would not cry if he was to be removed from his current job.

“If I were to [be] judged on the basis of where I stood in the (ANC elective) conference and I am removed for my views‚ then I’ll be the happiest‚ because it means I don’t have leadership. I’ve got just a group of people who think about feelings and they’ve got no interest for the movement (ANC).”

Mbalula brushed off the idea that cabinet members should have resigned along with Zuma.

“Why should that happen? We didn’t join Zuma‚ we joined the ANC.”

Mbalula believes the ANC would have faced the same issues if Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma were elected as the ANC president in December.

“We were still going to deal with the issue of the motion of no confidence. The issue of the charges against the president. The issue of the impeachment.”

Mbalula said the ANC had wanted Zuma to remain until the end of his term‚ but the party faced challenges.

“We’ve got a party to run. We’ve got an organisation to run. We’ve got an election to contest.”

Mbalula believes the ANC should not bring disciplinary charges against Zuma.

“Why do you chase somebody that has accepted to fall on his sword and departed? He is gone.”