ANC Member of Parliament Makhosi Khoza has been vocal about the issues plaguing the ANC, including the no-confidence vote regarding President Jacob Zuma, intimidation and the consequences of voting against Zuma.
In response, the office of Chief Whip Jackson Mthembu has released a statement recommending that the party take disciplinary action against her.
It gives the following reasons for instituting such action:
- ANC MP comrade Dr Makhosi Khoza has gone on a publicity spree in the past week stating that she will not toe the party line when voting in the upcoming [no confidence] motion in Parliament.
- She casts aspersions on ANC members of Parliament, saying that she doubts ANC MPs have the necessary morality to make their own decisions.
- While the ANC was engaged in a national policy conference, comrade Khoza chose to run her own media conference on the sidelines.
- Comrade Khoza alleges that she is not allowed to raise her views in ANC caucus meetings. This is absolutely not true.
- We found out via the media that comrade Khoza has written to the speaker regarding the secret ballot on the motion of no confidence ... party discipline dictates that she should have at least informed the chief whip of such actions.
- The ANC caucus has on numerous occasions said that it is not averse to a secret ballot ... therefore her actions are rather strange.
- When such [Khoza's] views are continuously and deliberately in contrast with resolutions of the organisation on particular matters, it puts the ANC caucus, as a structure of the organisation, in a very difficult position.
The statement goes on to say that the chief whip's office and ANC leaders have spoken to Khoza on many occasions, but that "it appears as though comrade Khoza has defined herself outside of the collective of the ANC parliamentary caucus and is acting like an independent member of Parliament and a free agent who will not subject herself to organisational processes and discipline".
People in the party have intimidated Khoza on various occasions, with the youth league calling for her removal as an MP and threatening her. Police Minister Fikile Mbalula has said previously that anyone who voted against Zuma would be "dealt with" and likened them to suicide bombers.
The statement ends by "reiterating that nobody in our organisation or in the country has the right to vilify or threaten her and her family".