President Cyril Ramaphosa’s corruption busting crusade is showing no signs of abating just yet, this after reports emerged on Thursday that one of his most vocal political opponents in the National Executive Committee (NEC) has finally fallen on his sword.
When the ANC implemented the highly-controversial but imperative “step aside” resolution, which by the way became a thorn in Secretary-General Ace Magashule’s flesh as he was suspended as per its guideline, there were others in the NEC who quite vociferously and passionately expressed antagonism against it as they feared it was implemented to target those who are diametrically opposed to the President – those who did not support him.
This is a group which is prominently known as the RET Faction, it is constituted by those who believe in the transformation of the economy through radical means, and among these members is Bongani Bongo.
And according Timeslive, Bongo has been removed from his position as the chairperson of the parliamentary Committee on Home Affairs, and this has done in line with the step aside resolution which Bongo has been quite vocal against.
This comes after he was initially suspended by the ANC for his failure to step aside of his own volition upon the implementation of the resolution.
Bongo was not the only one to suffer the ignominy of being removed from a powerful position, as although to a lesser extent, former North West Premier, Supra Mahumapelo has also being be shuffled from his chairmanship of the parliamentary Committee on Tourism, and he will now head the international relations portfolio in exchange with Tandi Mahambehlala.
This will certainly be seen as a huge win for Ramaphosa, as these ANC members who are mainly aligned with the RET Faction, where selected to head these portfolios by Magashule under huge scrutiny from society after the 2019 General elections.
Back to Bongo, the former minister of State Security is a controversial figure, truth be told, and he was among those who are believed to have been at variance with the resolution, he did so at the time because he was and is still facing a litany of corruption allegations against him.
Moreover, he had a sub judice matter in the Western Cape High Court on the matter pertaining to his conduct in corruptly trying to influence former Eskom Parliamentary Inquiry chairperson Advocate Ntuthuko Vanara to collapse the investigation in 2017.
Albeit Judge John Hlophe has ruled in his favour citing unsubstantial evidence, Bongo is still dealing with another court matter in Mpumalanga, relating to his alleged involvement lands deals worth billions, and this is mainly the reason he has been forced to step aside.