Step-aside discussions will not be suppressed, assures Radebe
ANC policy head Jeff Radebe believes there
won’t be any impediment to discussions around the party’s controversial
step-aside rule at its policy conference.
Radebe briefed the media on the programme of the conference on Friday.
The conference kicked off at Nasrec with a protest by ANC staffers who have not received their salaries for two months.
The conference is expected to hold robust discussions on party policies, including the so-called step aside rule, which has been the subject of much debate among ANC members.
The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal, which is the party’s biggest province, has already said it wants the policy consigned to the dustbin of history.
Radebe says wide discussions are expected around the issue, as 200 names of ANC members have been identified in the Zondo commission report.
The policy says members charged with corruption must voluntarily step aside or face suspension.
"I can confirm that in reading this 5612-page report from Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, there are about 200 names that look familiar to the ANC," Radebe said.
"We are now doing a verification process in order to ensure that we provide these names both to the secretary-general's office as well as to the integrity committee.
He added: "I expect that the topic (step aside) will be widely debated in this conference because it affects the ANC directly."
Radebe said the Zondo report also impacts the ANC as an organisation.
"In the Zondo report, the ANC is also mentioned in very unsettling terms. So, our responsibility and duty as leaders and members of the ANC is to confront this issue frontally and come up with proposals as to how we can be able to improve our situation."
Radebe believes the step-aside rule will lead to some heated debates.
"We are very democratic organisation, no view can be suppressed in the ANC. So, we are looking forward to hearing motivations for that because that's a position that was taken at Nasrec and confirmed by the National Executive Committee."
"So that's why I am saying there are no holy cows in the forum like the national policy conference. So I expect that issue to come up very strongly in this policy conference judging from the media reports I have read about Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and so on, so it will not be suppressed at all the debates," he said.
