ANC finally submits nominees to Impeachment Committee: Mdumiseni Ntuli

Added: 2026-05-28

[00:00:00]Political parties have submitted their nominees to serve on the impeachment committee following the deadline set for 22 May 2026. While most parties met the deadline, the ANC had requested additional time before submitting its list. Meanwhile, the Good Party and the Panaffricanist Congress, the PAC, have opted out of the process, citing limited representation in parliament. to unpack this. I'm joined now by Dominouli, ANC chief whip in the National Assembly.

[00:00:31]Good evening to you and thank you for your time. So you as the ANC have now submitted the names of the nine members and one alternate member to serve on the impeachment committee. Uh it's a list with significant number of members who've either served in other comparable uh committees. One would say the recent ad hoc committee or previously in the public protector impeachment process.

[00:00:56]But significantly it seems at least to me many of them also appear to have a strong legal background not to mention uh people like Cameron Dagmo who are party veterans. What is the thinking behind this deployment and the balance that you sought to strike?

[00:01:14]>> Uh good evening to good evening to the viewers of SAPC. You you are absolutely correct. When we were selecting the team, we had to be very careful and be very measured. One, we are looking at comrades who have a legal background, but also comrades who are seasoned members of parliament. As you would see that committee is largely made up of people who are chairing portfolio committees and with only one or two members who are not necessarily chairpersons of the portfolio committee.

[00:01:45]And the reason why we had to do that is because we want a team that will have the capacity to understand the work that is required of them but equally to act um why whenever there are issues that must be discussed in the in the committee without having to depend on a a consultation in each and every minute of the proceedings of that committee. I don't imagine that they don't have a line of march though or to use the word that you've been using increasingly guidance um instead of you know a straight up line of march. What is their line of match though? And is it informed by an outcome that the ANC ultimately desires such as the ultimate failure of the impeachment process either at the committee stage or at the conclusion thereof or even on the floor of the national assembly should it come to that.

[00:02:40]>> The line of mar is very clear. It's similar to the one that we had with the ado committee. the the the primary responsibility of members of parliament is to is to act truly as public representatives and it's our considered view that uh there is no tension or a conflict between what is called a party interest and national interest if those are are considered in an objective way.

[00:03:05]Our view is that these are comrades who are going to serve in the committee who have a duty to understand the facts relating to the subject at hand to interrogate those matters and to do so truly as public representatives and to act in a way that would be in the best interest of the people of South Africa and the African National Congress. And I want to emphasize the point that I don't think I've never seen it even when I was a member of the ADO committee where there would be a so-called clash between or clashes between what is in the person interest of the NC and in the person interest of the Republic of South Africa. And my my the mandate we have given to the team is that you've got to act and act objectively in a way that will continue to reinforce the confidence of the people of South Africa to their elected public representatives, particularly those who come from the Afghan National Congress.

[00:03:57]>> But is it fair and accurate to say that ultimately you don't want this impeachment process to succeed as the ANC?

[00:04:07]I I don't think at this stage is about the success or otherwise of the impeachment process. What is is required of us to do at the moment is to under understand the facts at hand with with regard to the subject that is being considered and to interrogate those facts to the point at which we can come to an informed conclusion and I'm saying to you an informed conclusion we have to take on board what are the national interest and what are the interest of the ANC and I want to contend that it should not be possible to arrive D at a position where there is a tension or a conflict between what constitute the national interest and the interest of the Afghan National Congress. So I don't think we're going there with a mindset that says we're going to defend at all cost because President Sapos is also a president of the ANC. We are going there as members of parliament who have a duty to discharge their responsibilities in line with the precinct of our constitution.

[00:05:09]We're getting ahead of ourselves granted uh because we are very far from that point of decision but based on what you are saying would descent be brooked would it be possible for example for any of these members and I'm picking out a random name here a golangola or a Soviet faith muti Cameron Doug Dagmo to decide that the national interest is such that while my party would rather not have the president that it sent to uh the union buildings impeached. But the national interest based on everything I've heard during the cause of the committee says to me I should vote that this process should proceed to the floor of the National Assembly for a vote.

[00:05:53]>> Well, I I don't think it's about the descent. is about uh the fact that you are sent there as part of an NC team and if you come to a conclusion on a particular matter as it was the case when we were in the adult committee you are perfectly at libert and seek to persuade your colleagues to the correctness of the position that you think the committee and the members must advance. We had no difficulty in doing that when we were in the adult committee. We engage with our own leaders comrade senu and com and I have no doubt in my mind that no one who's reasonable in this country would have made a conclusion that the engagement with those who are who are own leaders my colleagues in the national executive committee was in such a way that we wanted to protect them as opposed to searching for the truth and come to the conclusion that we believe are in the best interest of our country and our own movement Yet this process, even as it gets out of the starting gates, has a shadow um of doubt about it at the moment because your own president appears to be foreshadowing a possible interdict application if the impeachment committee goes ahead saying in his affidavit, and I think I must quote him here. I quote, "It would be intolerable and a travesty if the National Assembly were to proceed with an impeachment process triggered by the panel's report at a time when a challenge to the lawfulness and validity of that report is pending. I trust that the National Assembly will not do so."

[00:07:25]End quote. So, should the National Assembly even proceed then in these circumstances or should it wait for the outcome of the review application which may take months if not years?

[00:07:38]The National Assembly has put together a committee and the committee is going to meet on Monday to elect the chairperson of the committee so that it can begin with his responsibilities. The reason why the NA can't avoid that is because his own rules dictate that once the committee has been set up, it must proceed to its first meeting and elect the chairperson. Of course, in the light of the intervention that the president has made, it's therefore incumbent upon the speaker who provides the advice and guidance to committees of parliament to have a legal position that is going to guide the actions that she will have to take and those that must be taken by the committee. For instance, if the legal opinion that the speaker receives, which I believe she's going to have to engage in that process says to her, well, notwithstanding the intervention of the president, the work of the committee must continue uh because there's nothing in law that will justify halting the work of the committee on the basis that the president has taken the matter to court, then the committee is going to have to proceed. If the legal opinion says to to the speaker, no, despite the fact that you are required to do this in terms of the concord judgment, but looking at your own rules, looking at what the president has done to intervene in court, >> it would not be appropriate for you to immediately proceed with the work of the committee without having followed certain steps in order to ensure that you are in line with the law. That will also have to be done. But uh it it's going to depend as I'm saying the speaker is the head of another state which is parliament and she has a duty to guide committees of parliament in line with the rules of that parliament as well as the constitution of the republic of South Africa. Lastly, then let me ask you about something uh slightly different from the conversation we are having. The conference of the left to which political parties, various political parties have been invited. Um that will include the SACP, the EFF and other parties. You were invited to that as the ANC and you've said thanks but no thanks. Why?

[00:09:46]Well, I'm sure the SG would have presented our position on this matter on Monday, but the fact of the matter is that which is a discussion we had in the national executive committee. What is it that constitute the left about the parties that are said to be convening a conference of the left? What is left about them? What is left about the MK party?

[00:10:07]What is left about the the economic freedom fighters? Of course they may be seen to be on the left of the political spectum spectrum or ideological trend but the objective reality is that some of them are far left than being left. So if you convene a conference like that and that conference as you can see the preparations the public pronouncement by the communist party and others who are involved it's essentially a platform to bash the ANC and the le government. It's not a platform that is intended to reflect objectively on the challenges that continue to face the left agenda in our country which the ANC naturally would not be insulated from. But this is not about that. This is about the consolidation of another political agenda which is intended to displace the Afghan National Congress as opposed to making interventions and contributions that are intended to ensure that our country respond to the fundamental challenges facing the poor and and the marginalizing society.

[00:11:08]>> And very quickly, what would you say to those that say all along you've been styled as a disciplined force of the left with a bias towards the working class? has always been the mantra saying that rejecting this invitation perhaps signals that you are no longer that disciplined force of the left.

[00:11:29]>> Well, that that would not be justified.

[00:11:31]To be a disciplined force of the left doesn't mean that you must therefore accept any and every invitations of people who who classify themselves as the left forces in our country. It it doesn't mean that. It means that you must engage with that issue on the basis of what it is and what it represents, not what they tell the nation they actually represent.

[00:11:55]>> All right, let's leave it there for this evening. Thank you for your time. That's Misen Dulli, the chief whip of the African National Congress in the National Assembly.