Home South African ANC suspends MP after he urges Scopa to act against Ramaphosa

ANC suspends MP after he urges Scopa to act against Ramaphosa

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ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina has suspended party MP Mervyn Dirks for calling for the Standing Committee on Public Accounts to call President Cyril Ramaphosa to explain abuse of state funds.

ANC MP Mervyn Dirks. Picture: Parliament website

CAPE TOWN – ANC MP Mervyn Dirks has been suspended by the party after he called on the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) to haul President Cyril Ramaphosa over the coals for his remarks in the national executive committee on the abuse of public funds.

Dirks had written to Scopa to ask it to bring Ramaphosa before it to answer questions on state funds used for campaigning.

Independent Media has been reliably informed that the ANC has suspended Dirks pending disciplinary action against him for his conduct.

ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina is said to have written to Dirks of the disciplinary charges against him. The letter was written to Dirks on Thursday.

Majodina told him they wanted to take disciplinary action against him for his “unbecoming” behaviour as a whip of the party in the caucus. She also said Dirks was suspended with “immediate effect”.

His membership of Scopa has been withdrawn.

During the suspension period he has been stripped of his position as a whip of the ANC in the Scopa study group. In addition, Dirks’ membership of the strategy group in the ANC in Parliament has been suspended.

He has also been removed from caucus WhatsApp groups.

Ramaphosa was addressing the NEC when the audio clip was leaked on his comments on the public funds used for the party campaign during the Nasrec conference in 2017.

Dirks’ suspension comes after Majodina had asked him to withdraw his letter to Scopa for Ramaphosa to appear before it.

* This is a developing story.

Political Bureau

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