The ANC’s step-aside rule is just a smoke screen for this party to appear as if they are cleaning up their house. They are not.
Three ANC councillors in the Lejweleputswa District in the Free State, two of them mayors and another a former mayor, are the subject of serious investigations, but have not been forced by their party to vacate their offices.
Both Dimakatso Modise, mayor of Masilonyana, and Kenalemang Phukuntsi, mayor of Tswelopele, are currently being charged criminally. Modise for inciting violence and Pukuntsi for allegedly stealing goods to the value of around R60 000. Both have received letters from the ANC asking them to step aside weeks ago, but have not done so and the ANC in this region seems to be too weak to enforce its own rule.
During a Select Committee of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs meeting in Parliament on Tuesday morning, the Hawks further indicated that Councillor Nkosinjani Speelman, former mayor of Matjhabeng and now a councillor in the Lejwelepeutswa District Council, is being investigated for fraud and corruption. He has also not stepped aside.
If the ANC is indeed pro poor and serious about ridding itself of corruption that has become so deeply rooted in its character, it would enforce this step-aside rule and not be weak and indecisive. The DA cares deeply about service delivery and clean government. The community deserve nothing less and therefore we will continue to encourage the investigations ongoing against these ANC cadres.