Tshwarelo Hunter Mogakane
Pretoria - The relevant ANC structures are set to process a memorandum from some of the governing party’s aggrieved members, who are demanding that President Cyril Ramaphosa be expelled from the party and as head of state.
The members, who handed in their memorandum at Luthuli House in Johannesburg last Friday, have told Pretoria News that they plan to organise mass action across the country if their demands are not met.
According to the chief organiser of the march, Senzo Nkabinde, they had extended their earlier 48-hour deadline for Luthuli House to act against Ramaphosa.
“The ANC has now been given until the end of Thursday to ensure that Comrade Cyril Ramaphosa is expelled as head of the party. We also want him to be recalled as head of state because he is a deployee of the ANC. We expect the ANC to hold a media briefing announcing to the nation that they have expelled Comrade Cyril Ramaphosa,” said Nkabinde.
“The proposed national mass action has been delayed, and the ANC NEC is therefore given until July 21 to meet our short-term demands. In the event that the ANC NEC fails or refuses to do so, a nationwide multi-sectoral, mass rolling action will take place.”
Nkabinde said they would make an announcement on July 22 on the way forward, should Ramaphosa still be in office. He said their mass action would involve 13 organisations, including political parties, independent workers’ unions and religious formations.
He said that if need be, the demand for Ramaphosa to be expelled would also be escalated to the upcoming national general council of the ANC.
“We want the ANC policy conference to be converted into a two-day general council, and the rest of the days will be used for issues of policy. During those meetings we also want the general council to scrap the step-aside rule,” he said.
Nkabinde added that they would also be calling for reparations to be paid to the victims of the Marikana Massacre.
“We also want all cases relating to the July 2021 unrest to be dropped. We must focus on politicians who are accused of being involved in drug dealing and human trafficking.
“We call upon the ANC to put an end to this clandestine national phobia-mongering and the direct assault on the sovereignty of this country by the US government. South Africa is not a province or state under the US. These frequent visits of the US Army to South Africa must come to an immediate end,” he said.
ANC communications manager at Luthuli House, Keith Khoza, acknowledged that the memorandum had been received and would be duly considered.
“The memo and its content will be processed by the relevant structures inside the ANC,” said Khoza. When asked which specific structures would process the memorandum, Khoza did not respond.
Calls have been mounting for President Ramaphosa to resign as head of state. This follows criminal charges laid against the president in April by former State Security Agency boss Arthur Fraser. Fraser alleged that Ramaphosa had possibly concealed a burglary involving about $4 million at his Phala Phala farm in Waterberg, Limpopo.
According to Fraser, Ramaphosa’s head of security unlawfully detained and interrogated a domestic worker at Phala Phala farm, and later used state resources to secretly pursue suspects linked to the burglary.
The Hawks and the National Prosecuting Authority have yet to charge Ramaphosa on any of the Phala Phala events, that Fraser has characterised as money laundering, kidnapping, torture and defeating the ends of justice.
Realising that there was stalling in terms of charging Ramaphosa, Fraser took it upon himself to provide the Hawks with further details for their investigation.
This week, the calls for Ramaphosa to resign escalated when the Office of the Public Protector revealed that Ramaphosa had failed to respond to 31 questions from suspended Public Protector, advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane.
On Tuesday, Deputy Public Protector advocate Kholeka Gcaleka said she had denied Ramaphosa’s request for a further extension to answer the questions on the Phala Phala farm saga.
Pretoria News