Mervyn Dirks resigns from parliament, will stay in ANC

Controversial ANC MP Mervyn Dirks has resigned from parliament.

Dirks informed National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula of his resignation on Monday.

He later told TimesLIVE he was resigning from parliament but will remain an active member of the ANC.

“I am still a member of the ANC. I will continue doing ANC work. I have not resigned from the party,” he said.

Dirks said his resignation “has nothing to do” with his suspension from the party.

He wouldn’t reveal his next move, saying he will “still be involved politically in the ANC”.

Dirks was suspended by ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina last January over his call for President Cyril Ramaphosa to account in parliament for comments he made in a leaked audio clip about the misuse of public funds for internal party leadership campaigns in 2017.

He ignored Majodina’s instruction to withdraw a letter he had written to standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) chair Mkhuleko Hlengwa in which he asked that Ramaphosa tell the committee what he knew about the misuse of public funds for party political activities.

During the period of suspension, he was relieved of his duties as the whip of the ANC’s Scopa study group and as the questions whip of the ANC parliamentary caucus. His membership of the party’s powerful strategy committee was suspended and his membership of Scopa withdrawn.

Dirks was also removed from the ANC caucus WhatsApp groups and “specifically” prohibited from engaging on any media platform “in any way whatsoever regarding this matter”.

In November, he demanded reinstatement to his positions in parliament, saying his suspension was illegal. He threatened to sue the ANC if it did not reinstate him.

Previously Dirks was in trouble for his comments and gestures in the National Assembly, and in 2019 was found guilty of breaching the code of ethical conduct for MPs for a statement he posted on social media.

Parliament’s joint committee on ethics and members’ interests found Dirks to have breached the ethical conduct code when he referred to certain MPs as “dogs” on his Facebook page.

In his defence, Dirks had argued he was responding to a DA MP who had called him a “pig” on social media.

“I have been ridiculed by the opposition since I arrived at parliament to the extent that they vulgarised my surname,” he said.

Opposition MPs often heckle Dirks in the house by shouting “dick” when he rises to speak.

TimesLIVE

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