Electoral committee ‘used to purge people’: Bathabile Dlamini on her NEC exit

Former women’s league president and outgoing NEC member Bathabile Dlamini has accused the ANC electoral committee of purging comrades that the leadership of the party did not agree with.

Dlamini was disqualified by the committee, just a week away from the elective conference at Nasrec, despite receiving 800 nominations from branches.

The outgoing NEC member reacted to the disqualification with a letter indicating her intention to institute legal action to oppose the ruling, which she later withdrew.

“I got the [disqualification] letter through someone, no-one spoke to me about this. But also I never thought the electoral committee was established to purge people. 

“This is a new committee, at the beginning I got very emotional and angry. I even thought I would go to court, I had everything prepared, but I instructed my lawyers to drop the case,” she said. 

Dlamini was one of the front-runners in the race for NEC positions, making it to number 15 on the nomination list released by the committee, but fell short due to the vetting process that eliminated several other ANC leaders from contesting if they were previously found guilty of a criminal offence.

This relates to a court ruling earlier this year which found her guilty of perjury for lying under oath during a 2017 inquiry into the social grants debacle at the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa).

The court slapped Dlamini with a four-year prison sentence — two of which were suspended — or the option of a fine.

Speaking to the SABC, an emotional Dlamini opened up about the moment she found out about her disqualification and reflected on the establishment of the committee led by chairperson Kgalema Motlanthe.

“It was painful, there are a lot of things going on in the ANC, and I told myself to take a step back.

“Comrade Kgalema is my senior, if he sees it fit to call me, I will go and listen to him. If he sees it fit to write me a letter, I have accepted his letter.”

A distressed Dlamini described it as “patriarchy in action”.

“It is men supporting other men, and purging and bullying others. We will see how far this is going to take them,” she said.

Dlamini said when they agreed on the committee, they wanted people who were neutral and not involved in the issues of the national executive committee. 

“They have made their own amendments, which must be in line with the constitution. If you appeal to them, they are the same people who respond to you. They are like a child who does homework and marks their own homework.” 

The NEC said the rules must be in line with the constitution, and said when they responded it was for disciplinary processes.

“So what do you do when people have an answer for everything?” a distressed Dlamini asked.

“I think they should have done more work, and I do not think they should have rushed into purging people,” she said.

Speaking on her exit from the deployment and leadership structures of the party, Dlamini said she would remain a member.

“The ANC has a branch, I remain a member of the ANC in my branch. I am going to be an activist in my branch and will continue to work on the struggles of women,” she said.

Dlamini shared her vision for the incoming president of the party as former health minister Zweli Mkhize goes head-to-head with Cyril Ramaphosa at the conference.

“I want a leader that is going to understand that there is always going to be tension between the leaders of the ANC and women’s structures because of patriarchy in South Africa and therefore there is always going to be contestation.

“Raising issues of women is not challenging the leadership or an individual,” she said.

Pronouncing her support for Mkhize, Dlamini said she wanted a “seasoned cadre of the ANC who has made sacrifices before and who is going to unite us and build on the foundation built by leaders before us".  

“He is a leader you can talk to, raise any issue with him and even if you do not agree with him, you would not become his enemy,” she said.

“Every leader has his choice of people. If you want to lead with people that say yes to you or that tell you everything you want to hear, you are going to make a lot of mistakes.”

Voting is under way at Nasrec where the results of the much anticipated battle between Mkhize and Ramaphosa for the presidential seat plays out on Sunday evening.

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