ANC KZN Wants Step-Aside Rule Scrapped

The new ANC leadership in KZN wants the party’s step-aside resolution to be scrapped saying the rule has constrained the party.

The so-called ‘Taliban’ faction made a clean sweep of the party’s top positions in the province.

Some faction members, including new chairperson Siboniso Duma, are sympathetic towards former president Jacob Zuma.

Secretary Bheki Mtolo says delegates should bring up the step-aside issue at the upcoming national policy conference.

The resolution, adopted at the Nasrec conference, calls for those facing corruption and other serious charges to voluntarily step aside or face immediate suspension.

KwaZulu-Natal officials have claimed that the rule is being used to target certain political opponents.

“The conference wants to holistically review the step-aside resolution in order to position the movement in a trajectory for unity and renewal. By the way, it seems the step-aside is a law that only applies to those who are ANC members,” Mtolo said.

“Because, all the proponents of step-aside, they don’t implement step-aside in their own organisations but they celebrate the step-aside in the ANC because it constraints the ANC to discharge its responsibility to society. And, it makes the ANC to be in a continuous fight among itself.

“Therefore, the conference resolves that delegates towards the national policy conference must forward a complete proposal that step-aside must not only be reviewed but must be scrapped.”