Makhosi Khoza 'unfazed and unshaken' as she fights ANC disciplinary charges
1 August 2017
Durban - African National Congress MP Makhosi Khoza says she is "unfazed and unshaken", as she prepares to fight disciplinary charges against her for alleged misconduct.
Khoza is being charged by the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal - who nominated her as an MP and where her constituency as an MP is based - for bringing the party into disrepute after publicly calling on President Jacob Zuma to step down.
Khoza posted on Facebook on Tuesday that she would keep her followers up to date with her disciplinary process.
"I may not be communicating with you every day but rest assured, I'm unfazed and unshaken. I'll keep on fighting the rot in our country.
"We are all tired of these bullies who do not even understand the very instrument they are using to charge me, the ANC Constitution."
Khoza also said that the battle was not personal, and was also not solely hers.
"It is about saving our beautiful country from corruption and lawlessness. It is about truth to power. Africa deserves better. That is why I refuse to fight it secretly.
"I invite women of courage to support me. There is a growing tendency to victimize women because they assume we are weak and easily intimidated. They have definitely entered the wrong movie."
'Outside KZN jurisdiction'
Khoza posted a letter she had written to Ravi Pillay - Human Settlements MEC and the party's Chief Provincial Presenter - from whom she is still awaiting a response.
In her letter, she contends that her Facebook posts were, by their nature, were made outside the province's jurisdiction. Therefore, in terms of the ANC's constitution, the provincial structures did not have "requisite jurisdiction" to discipline her.
One of the charges she is facing relates to a plea she made on Mandela Day, July 18, in Johannesburg at a public forum, where she called for Zuma to step down.
That too, was outside the jurisdiction of the provincial structure, Khoza contends.
She also said that veterans of the ANC, the South African Communist Party, Cosatu and Sanco, as well as other current national executive committee members, had also called for the same thing.
Khoza argues that the province had, therefore, "reached a political-legal cul-de-sac", and should let her disciplinary hearing on September 10 be held by the party's National Disciplinary Committee.
'Stifling debate'
She has also argued, according to section 25 of the ANC's own constitution, disciplinary proceedings may not be conducted to "stifle debate or solve private problems".
"I understood my public statements, either in Facebook postings or public platforms, to be statements shared in pursuit of exercising my basic democratic right to freedom of expression.
"In any event, the call for the resignation of the President of the Republic is a public debate at national level which is routinely debated by members of the ANC and the public at large."
She also reminded Pillay that the ANC's provincial executive committee's legitimacy itself was currently being challenged in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg.
"In no way should this correspondence be construed as a plea. I reserved my right to submit a plea to a tribunal constituted in terms of the constitution of the ANC. I am looking forward to your response," she finished.
She also requested that the full charge sheet be provided to her, and that a list of PEC members who had decided to charge her be provided to her.
