Pretoria - ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula says the Phala Phala report will not be discussed when the 55th national conference resumes its business this week because it’s not on the agenda.
Addressing the media at the party’s Luthuli House headquarters in Johannesburg yesterday, Mbalula insisted that only the reports from the commissions and constitutional amendments would be discussed.
He was speaking on the state of readiness for the party’s 111th anniversary celebrations, also known as the January 8 Statement.
Flanked by his two deputies, Nomvula Mokonyane and Maropene Ramokgopa, Mbalula said the hybrid conference will take place with links from each province.
The ANC adjourned the five-day national conference at which its president Cyril Ramaphosa and national chairperson Gwede Mantashe were re-elected and other Top 7 officials elected. Delays with the registration of the more than 4 000 delegates on the first day meant that the conference came to an end before all the items on the agenda could be tackled.
Mbalula said: “There will be no Phala Phala report at the conference. We are entertaining two issues at the conference to finalise … the reports from the commissions and then the constitutional amendments. That will be the business of the second leg of this conference.
“The issue of the Phala Phala report was brought to the national executive committee. There are important milestones in relation to this matter,” he said.
Late last year, Ramaphosa was under fire after the Section 89 panel report, commissioned by Parliament, found there was prima facie evidence of “serious misconduct and gross violation of the Constitution” in terms of his involvement in the stashing of millions in undeclared foreign currency at his farm in Limpopo.
However, the ANC later used its majority in Parliament to avoid adopting the report and paving the way for impeachment hearings against Ramaphosa. At least five ANC MPs, led by Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, broke ranks and voted for the adoption of the report.
Mbalula said those who had defied the party’s mandate would be subjected to a national disciplinary committee.
“There was a motion in Parliament that was defeated and there were members of the ANC who voted with the opposition, and that matter has been referred to the national disciplinary committee.”
According to Mbalula, the two-day hybrid conference will have its main hub in Bloemfontein where the national executive committee will be sitting, while the rest of the provinces held their own in venues across the country.
“Each venue will be linked up to the national hub where the proceedings will be directed and the main agenda which the conference will conclude are the commission reports that include, among others, strategy and tactics, organisational renewal, finances and governance and transformation and conference resolutions,” said Mbalula.
He also confirmed the activities of the January 8 celebrations to be addressed by Ramaphosa.
“It’s going to be a humdinger and a razzmatazz, it’s a celebration but political content must remain. It must not move away from the political content.”
Mbalula said the Dr Petrus Molemela Stadium in Mangaung had been cleared for use after concerns about infrastructure readiness.
The Pretoria News recently reported that the Mangaung Municipality manager, Tebogo Motlashuping, had raised concerns about the venue’s state of preparedness.
Mbalula said the municipality had since given the party the green light.
Pretoria News