Dlamini-Zuma has no regrets over Phala-Phala ‘yes’ vote

“I didn’t see any fault with the report,” Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma on her decision to defy her party by voting in favour of the Section 89 report into Phala Phala.

In an interview with Newzroom Afrika on Wednesday, Dlamini-Zuma said she did not regret her decision not to toe the party line.  

This was despite strict instructions from ANC national chairperson Gwede Mantashe warning MPs what would happen should they vote in favour of the report.

She said party-line was a decision reached within the ANC after a debate they had but added the ANC was in “unprecedented times where there was no debate”.

“This was a report that parliament instituted a committee chaired by a very emminent judge. It wasn’t to remove the president but to allow him to clear his name, to answer what questions they have. It was to give the president a chance to answer those questions. That’s how I understood it

“I am a member of the ANC, I joined it when I was still young. I will remain a member. I am not tired of being a member of the ANC. I actually am a very disciplined member of the ANC, a very loyal member of the ANC but I don’t know about a rule that says you can’t express your views in parliament, especially because we weren’t voting on a motion to remove the president but voting to say whether we agree with the report, a report that parliament itself had asked for.

“I read the report and I did not disagree with the report. My vote wasn’t about disagreeing with the ANC,” Dlamini-Zuma said.

ANC chairman Gwede Mantashe warned that those who voted against the party would face the party’s disciplinary processes.

“If I’m a member of the ANC and I don’t want to comply with the rules of the ANC [then] I’m tired of being a member of the ANC. It’s not about expulsion but I am opting out of the ANC,” Mantashe said.