The insinuation by the DA that President Thabo Mbeki should reject ANC president Jacob Zuma's "ultimatum" to implement resolutions taken at the Polokwane conference once again clearly illustrates the contempt for the ruling party and its membership.

The insinuation by the DA that President Thabo Mbeki should reject ANC president Jacob Zuma's "ultimatum" to implement resolutions taken at the Polokwane conference once again clearly illustrates the contempt for the ruling party and its membership.

The statement is a fallacy.

First of all, there is no ultimatum given to the government. The ANC has always led the government with a programme of action set in motion by congress.

We all know very well that the DA is simply parroting the rhetoric that the cabinet members and the president must not attend the national executive committee meetings because their duty is to ponder on suggestions and recommendations brought to central government by the NEC.

This must be dismissed with the contempt it deserves.

Every ANC member knows the party president is chosen at the congress to lead the party and MPs are elected through a list process, who then elect the president in parliament.

This means the president and MPs are cadres deployed by the ANC general membership to government.

Therefore, these cadres are accountable to constitutional bodies of the ANC, namely the NEC and national working committee.

Morgan Phaahla, Ekurhuleni