Mayor of Ekurhuleni Mzwandile Masina has urged African National Congress (ANC) members to uphold principle at all times.
Masina, who is also chairperson of ANC in Ekurhuleni, insisted that “wrong is wrong no matter who does it.
He made the comments in an opinion piece published on News24 on Tuesday.
He was reacting to the ongoing revelations about CR17 campaign donors and beneficiaries.
The campaign propelled President Cyril Ramaphosa to the ANC presidency at the party’s 54th national conference in 2017.
Masina lamented that the revelations have “demonstrated the death of principle” within the ANC in the way some ANC comrades seek to defend certain individuals.
We cannot and must never normalise a culture where we defend individuals who commit questionable acts in their personal capacities, and then want to claim that such defence is necessary or even revolutionary.
Mzwandile Masina
The regional chairperson contended that such a culture would result in personality cults in the ANC.
We must learn, as ANC members, that principles are fundamental. Above all, that wrong is wrong no matter who does it.
Mzwandile Masina
He suggested that some in the CR17 campaign may have engaged in “money laundering and tax avoidance.”
Masina further denied that he was being “oppositionist to ANC leadership” by raising these concerns.
He insisted that holding a different view, even against the president, must never make an ANC member a “pariah.”