Even if the ANC national conference in December repeals the contested step aside rule, those affected would still not be eligible to contest for any position.
The party’s spokesperson Pule Mabe on Wednesday sought to clarify that should such a decision be taken, it would only be effective post conference.
He said that resolutions of the conference are not retrospective and that if the step aside rule is repealed, it will take effect in the next conference.
The rule calls for those facing corruption or criminal charges to vacate their positions, failing which they will be suspended.
An amended version of the rule, approved by the NEC in April, also bars those affected from contesting any leadership position.
“If you take a resolution in a conference its application only happens in the next conference ... if you resolve that we are discarding the step aside rule because either we believe it is not being implemented consistently or whatever view that might hold, it means the application of that resolution will only be at the next national conference because we resolved on step aside at the 54th national conference.
“When did we apply it? As soon as we left the conference, because if we applied it at the conference it meant we would have had to call any cadre who was in court at the time and ask them to step aside. We didn’t do that because we apply resolutions afterwards,” Mabe said.
This comes after confusion over whether those affected by step aside would be able to be nominated from the floor should the rule be scrapped by the conference.
There had been hopes that the likes of suspended secretary-general Ace Magashule, who is facing corruption charges, could be proposed should the provinces that want the rule to be scrapped, succeed.
Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal have made clear their intention to challenge the rule at the conference.
Mabe said it was only the national general council that can fill a vacancy in the top six, as the NEC does not have such powers.
Nominations postponed
Mabe was briefing the media on the party’s decision to postpone the start of the nomination process by a week ahead of the national conference in December.
The process to nominate for top six and national executive committee (NEC) positions was meant to start on Wednesday, but Mabe said it had been postponed to next week.
This, he said, was because there is a special NEC meeting on Sunday to finalise an audit of all branches and members that qualify to sit in meetings to nominate leaders.
It will be this meeting that will give the all clear for the branch meetings to go ahead.
Top six vacancy
Mabe also clarified that the top six vacancy left by the departed Jessie Duarte cannot be filled until conference.
Duarte, who died this year, has left the position of deputy secretary-general vacant. Treasurer-general Paul Mashatile has been acting in her position, along with the suspended Magashule.
Some NEC members have complained that Mashatile, dubbed the “Trinity”, was too powerful by holding three positions.
Mabe said it was only the national general council that can fill a vacancy in the top six, as the NEC does not have such powers.
“We can ask comrades to act in the same way we have asked the TG [Mashatile] to act in the position of secretary-general because he’s an official,” Mabe said.
“It creates a challenge for the NEC to sit and elect someone who is not an official to become an official, who was not elected by the national conference. We don’t have those powers.”
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