We will fight anyone in our party who defends state capture - Gauteng ANC
4 April 2017
Johannesburg - The African National Congress in Gauteng wants its branches and regions to come up with a battle plan to fight state capture.
News24 understands that the party made the decision at an extraordinary provincial working committee meeting on Monday. The meeting was held to discuss the current political dynamics in the country.
Ructions in the ANC have taken centre stage following the middle-of-the-night shake-up of the national executive by President Jacob Zuma last week.
Three of the ANC's top six leaders have criticised how the change in the executive was implemented by the president, with Zuma's deputy Cyril Ramaphosa describing the axing of ministers as "totally unacceptable".
ANC Gauteng spokesperson Nkenke Kekana confirmed the meeting had taken the resolution.
"We will fight state capture in whichever way it manifests itself," said Kekana.
Waiting for political direction
The phenomenon has increasingly become a topic of discussion, amid claims that close associates of the president, the Gupta family, have captured the state through undue influence.
In her State of Capture report, former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela recommended that Zuma institute a judicial commission of inquiry into the matter, but Zuma is appealing the recommendation.
When asked about the province's views on recent events, Kekana said Gauteng would wait for political direction from the national ANC's extended national working committee, which meets on Wednesday.
He said Gauteng would also convene a provincial executive committee meeting on Wednesday to give its own executive feedback.
"We will articulate the views of Gauteng that have been canvassed in the last year or so on state capture," said the Gauteng spokesperson.
Provincial ANC chairperson Paul Mashatile, in the lead-up to lobby group Save South Africa's launch in 2016, said the province wanted to stand with South Africans fighting corruption and state capture.
'Enemy of the revolution'
Kekana said the province wanted regional general councils to be convened and for branches to come together to discuss ways to deal with the challenge of state capture.
"If there is any individual who defends state capture in the ANC, we are prepared to fight that person.
"State capture is actually the enemy of our revolution," he said.
The province also discussed a Democratic Alliance-planned march to ANC headquarters, Luthuli House, which had been planned for Friday.
He said the leadership in Gauteng had questioned the opposition's decision to march to the ANC headquarters over an issue the party had with government.
"For the DA and any political party to want to march to Luthuli House, we believe that is grandstanding and we are opposed to it and it's something we cannot allow to happen," said Kekana.
The DA has since backed down, and will now march to Beyers Naude Square, which is a block away from the headquarters.
South Africans should all be focusing on fighting state capture, Kekana said.
