Pretoria - Ahead of the much-anticipated, potentially explosive special ANC national executive committee (NEC) meeting scheduled for today, outspoken member Tony Yengeni has amplified growing calls for under-fire President Cyril Ramaphosa to step down.
Ramaphosa is under unprecedented pressure to resign or at least provide more details on why the Section 89 independent panel found that there is prima facie evidence of serious misconduct against him over the foreign currency which was stored in furniture at his Limpopo farm.
Speaking to broadcaster Newzroom Afrika, Yengeni said procedure had not been followed in setting up the special NEC meeting, set for later today.
“Maybe when we start the NEC meeting this afternoon, we will be informed why the process has not been followed. We are called to a special NEC meeting without having followed due process but be that as it may, the NEC is expected to convene this afternoon, get a report from the officials, discuss the matter that will be presented to us and come to certain conclusions.
“In that regard, some of us will be insisting that the president must not only uphold the rule of law in the Constitution, but he must respect the law and the Constitution of the Republic. He must respect the people of South Africa. He must respect the country and the government. The country and the people of this country are going through a lot at this point in time. They are traumatised that their own president, there is prima facie evidence that has been found that he has violated a number of sections of our law and our Constitution.”
Yengeni said Ramaphosa must do some deep introspection.
“The president must not only respect the people, government and the Constitution, but he must respect himself. He must talk to himself. He should say to himself, is this what I want for the country and the people, even the ANC for that matter? He must speak to himself. He must look at his conscience,” he said.
Yengeni has a response to people saying Ramaphosa’s detractors are not clean themselves: “I think that is shifting the goalposts. You cannot justify crime and corruption by one person on the basis that others have done the same. That is just simple political dishonesty. If you have committed a crime, you must take responsibility for your actions”.
Leader of the United Democratic Movement (UDM), General Bantu Holomisa, commented that Deputy President David Mabuza is the obvious choice and capable candidate to take over the reins at Union Buildings ahead of the ANC elective conference if the embattled Ramaphosa steps down.
Holomisa said Mabuza had been exemplary as deputy president, and there is no need for panic if Ramaphosa resigns.
“It could still happen (Mabuza replacing Ramaphosa). There is no need to press panic buttons on this, where people say we need to look for another one to act. David Mabuza, in actual fact, if you look at the way he handled himself in that office, he never wanted to compete with Cyril Ramaphosa or to overshadow him,” said Holomisa.
“He always took a back seat, but when he is called up to do the work, to go and answer questions in Parliament, he has done so. He can still act, but … South Africa needs an interim government until the 2024 elections. You cannot expect ANC to self-correct itself. These guys, most of them, not all, are tainted.”
Holomisa reiterated calls for Ramaphosa to vacate the Union Buildings “immediately”.
IOL