×

We've got news for you.

Register on SowetanLIVE at no cost to receive newsletters, read exclusive articles & more.
Register now

'I won't allow ANC MPs to be lameducks,' warns party chief whip Pemmy Majodina

ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina during the party's first caucus meeting in Cape Town on May 21 2019.
ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina during the party's first caucus meeting in Cape Town on May 21 2019.
Image: Esa Alexander

New ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina has vowed to crack the whip to make sure the majority party's caucus conducts robust oversight on the executive and does so diligently and intelligently.

She addressed parliamentary journalists following the party's first caucus meeting on Tuesday where ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule introduced her to MPs as their new boss.

Majodina, who is new to the national legislature, said her main objective was to make sure that ANC MPs do not become lame ducks but conduct robust oversight on the executive without creating tensions.

"As the ANC caucus we are going to unpack the manifesto of the ANC in terms of the implementation plan and time frames. We are going to make sure that members of the ANC rise to the occasion and they rise to the mandate that the ANC has given them to be here," she said.

Majodina said the ANC caucus will play its oversight role robustly, faster and smarter because "our people are waiting for us to be there, to give them services and to build social cohesion as well as social contract with them".

Majodina said she was looking forward to building a united team of the ANC but without compromising the constitution. "I'm very much humbled to be appointed as the ANC chief whip but I'm whipping leaders ..." she said.

She said as a matter of process and procedure, the ANC would wait for President Cyril Ramaphosa to appoint his cabinet before appointing chairpersons of the parliamentary portfolio committees.

Majodina said the cabinet would be most likely appointed by Monday and thereafter the organisation would appoint "capable chairpersons of committees as well as the entire whippery and all other outstanding portfolios".

When asked about her leadership style, she said hers was not autocratic. "I'm working with leaders in their own right but there is one chief whip of the majority party."

She said: "People must live by the values of the ANC and make sure that we are here to represent our people. That is what we will be expecting from all of them.

"They must move faster and better because we don't have time to play around. Time is against us, we must ensure that our people who voted for us see that they have not wasted their votes," she added.


Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.

Speech Bubbles

Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.