ANC whistleblower advocate Winston Erasmus has given the speaker of parliament an ultimatum to force ANC MP Qubudile Dyantyi to recuse himself from Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s inquiry by Friday or face legal action.
Erasmus’ demands are contained in a letter he wrote to speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula on Friday. In the letter, written by his lawyers Ward Brink Attorneys, Erasmus insisted that Dyantyi failed to disclose his full role as a private political lieutenant for President Cyril Ramaphosa during the 2017 ANC leadership race and the 2019 general elections.
This, he maintained, included his participation in the alleged intelligence project called “special operations” to destabilise a plot that former president
Jacob Zuma and ex-ANC secretary general Ace Magashule hatched with the opposition ATM to undermine Ramaphosa and the ANC’s prospects in the 2019 general elections.
Erasmus said the information should have been fully disclosed when Mkhwebane, who has been suspended pending the outcome of the inquiry which Dyantyi is chairing, brought evidence in the recusal application on July 12 that both Dyantyi and the late Tina Joemat-Pettersson were part of the inner core of Ramaphosa’s ANC faction.
Joemat-Pettersson was captured in an audio recording where she allegedly solicited bribes on behalf of Dyantyi and ANC chief whip Pammy Majodina to protect Mkhwebane against adverse findings after the investigation. However, Joemat-Pettersson died immediately after evidence of the allegations was publicly released.
In the formal response to Mkhwebane, Dyantyi confirmed he supported Ramaphosa’s candidature for the ANC presidency, “as did the majority of ANC members as indicated by the result of the elective conference”.
“However, to the extent that it is implied that I acted in a certain manner because of an allegiance to Ramaphosa (and a subsequent fallout as alleged due to not becoming a minister), that is categorically denied,” he said.
He argued his role as a member of parliament to hold the executive to account was not to be confused with his role as an ANC member.
Ramaphosa suspended Mkhwebane after parliament confirmed it was investigating her fitness to hold office. In July last year, Mkhwebane was investigating allegations that Ramaphosa kept illegal foreign currency under a couch at his Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo.
Mkhwebane had also investigated and found against Ramaphosa for funds raised during his 2017 ANC presidential campaign, but the courts overturned her findings.
On July 28, Dyantyi’s parliamentary committee found that Mkhwebane did not conduct the investigation into Ramaphosa’s 2017 ANC presidential campaign “in a manner that ensured impartial or independent conduct”.
Other findings against Mkhwebane, who disputes the procedural fairness of the investigation, include that she tampered with the Vrede Dairy Farm investigation to protect prominent politicians, treated her staff badly and wasted money fighting legal challenges over her reports.
“Our client has determined that given the support for Ramaphosa by Dyantyi in the various roles he held from the 2017 Nasrec conference to the 2019 general election, he is not persuaded that Dyantyi’s participation in the panel, especially his chairpersonship thereof, can fairly be described as impartial”.
The lawyers said: “It will be argued the entire process should be impeached on the basis that it was devoid of fairness… and would furthermore offend natural justice, and was akin to subjecting Mkhwebane to a kangaroo court.”
The lawyers further demanded that Mapisa-Nqakula request Dyantyi, in writing, to respond to Erasmus’ grounds of recusal and suspend the continuation of the parliamentary committee.
They also want the speaker to determine whether Dyantyi’s reasonable apprehension of bias has contaminated the committee and also provide for its lawful termination. “Should you fail to comply with our client’s demands as aforesaid; we reserve our client’s rights to take such steps which may be necessary to protect his rights.”
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