ANC responds to call for Ramaphosa to 'step aside'

ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe has responded to calls for the party's president Cyril Ramaphosa to step aside amid damning findings against him by an independent panel looking into the Phala Phala debacle.

The panel, headed by retired chief justice Sandile Ngcobo, found Ramaphosa may have committed a serious violation of the law and serious misconduct in terms of the constitution. Ramaphosa has maintained his innocence.

LISTEN | Phala phala report and its significance

Several politicians and political parties have reacted to the findings, with ANC presidential contender and co-operative governance and traditional affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma calling for Ramaphosa to “step aside”.

“I think the president has to step aside now and answer to the case,” she said on eNCA's Power to Truth.

Speaking to the same station on Thursday morning, Mabe said Dlamini-Zuma had a right to express her views, as long as she did not claim to represent decisions taken by the party.

“I don't think there are big issues there ... When members of the ANC NEC express themselves outside the NEC, not mandated by the NEC, they are expressing their own views. 

“They could be locating those views within policy positions of the organisation, but that is is not in any way criminal. They are not spokespersons for the ANC”.

He said the party would meet and members would be given an opportunity to air their views formally on the panel's findings.

“There are things we have said in various policy documents of the ANC that deal with conduct. The ANC has gone out to ask its own individual cadres, where they have been found to have erred, to step aside from their position while they are attending to the matter. But there is a framework that guides all this.”

At its 2017 conference, the ANC resolved that members facing allegations of corruption and crime must step aside.  Ramaphosa announced last year leaders charged with corruption and wrongdoing must voluntarily step aside within 30 days or risk being suspended.

Dlamini-Zuma's comments come just months after she denounced the ANC's step-aside rule as unjust and called for it to be amended. 

“Where the problem lies is that the country's laws say we are innocent until we are proved guilty. The law of the ANC almost says we are guilty until proved innocent. 

“The problem with step aside is that you are charged, and then you step aside, but three years on, you are still waiting for the trial to start. What kind of justice is that? Justice should be they investigate you once they've charged you and the trial must start within months,” Dlamini-Zuma told SABC News in September,

In its findings, the independent panel looking into the Phala Phala matter said: “We conclude that this information discloses, prima facie, that the president may have committed a serious violation of sections 96(2)(a) (of the constitution) and a serious violation of section 34(1) of the Prevention and combating of Corrupt Activities Act, a serious misconduct in that the president violated section 96(2)(b) of the constitution by acting in a way that is inconsistent with his office, and a serious misconduct in that the president violated section 96(2)(b) by exposing himself to a situation involving a conflict between his official responsibilities and his private business.”

Ramaphosa said he had endeavoured throughout his tenure as president to abide by his oath of office and set an example of respect for the constitution, institutions, due process and law.

“I categorically deny that I have violated this oath in any way, and I similarly deny that I am guilty of any of the allegations made against me,” said Ramaphosa.

Spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said the president was applying his mind to the report and would make an announcement in due course.

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