CAPE TIMES / 6 November 2016, 10:48pm
Quinton Mtyala
PUBLIC Works Minister Thulas Nxesi has questioned the motives of the Hawks' investigation of Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe and the party's treasurer-general, Zweli Mkhize, saying it was driven by factionalism in the ruling party.
Nxesi was speaking in Mfuleni yesterday ahead of a crucial by-election following the resignation of ANC Ward 108 councillor Rhoda Bazier.
Cape Town-161106-(L-R) Faiez Jacobs, Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba, Khaya Magaxa, Minister of Public Works, Thulas Nxesi, Dalasile Mfazwe and ward candidate Thembisile Batembu. Nxesi had addressed the ANC rally in Mfuleni ahead of a municipal by-election. Picture Jeffrey Abrahams. Credit: INLSA
Bazier had mistakenly been registered as a ward and proportional councillor for the city.
Despite this, the ANC won 60 percent of the votes in the ward. Nxesi, also the deputy national chairperson of the SACP, said there seemed to be "a serious attempt to divide the movement".
"Why do you want to discredit leaders? We fought the use of state organs to advance political battles," said Nxesi.
He said the investigations into Gordhan, Mantashe and Mkhize could be interpreted only as an attempt to discredit them ahead of the ANC's elective conference, which is scheduled for next year.
"Who would have thought that Mantashe and Mkhize could be under investigation.
"Pravin's court case was withdrawn and now we hear they want to charge him again," said Nxesi.
He said divisions in the ANC would negatively impact all the party's structures, and that the party of Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela could not die in the arms of its current leadership.
"We must deal with corruption, whether it's by a politician or public servant," said Nxesi.
His comments are the latest from ANC insiders, and senior government officials, speaking out against Zuma in the wake of the first announcement of Gordhan's prosecution and last week's release by the public protector of the report into state capture, focusing on the influence of the Gupta family,
In March, Jonas went public for the first time, saying one of the Guptas had offered him the job of finance minister in November last year, a month before former finance minister Nhanhla Nene was fired.
In the public protector's report, Jonas stated under oath that he had been offered R600 000 in cash, and R600 million to be deposited into a preferred bank account. The Gupta brothers are friends of President Jacob Zuma, whose son Duduzane is one of their business partners .
Speaking to a packed hall, Nxesi said the ANC would collapse if it did not rein in thieves within its ranks.
"Thieves have money, they can buy delegates (at conferences). Wherever you go, people are fighting in our branches because crooks are buying branches," Nxesi said of the influence money had in swaying votes in ANC leadership contests.
Without mentioning any names, and with stares directed at him from those regional ANC leaders seated alongside him, Nxesi said some in the party have become prisoners to those who were corrupting them.
The ANC was more important than any individual, he said.
http://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/minister-slams-hawks-motives-2087380