At the Nasrec and Expo centre on Wednesday, former Higher Education and Training deputy minister Mduduzi Manana replied to questions about his re-election to the ANC national executive committee (NEC).
The ANC’s commitment to eradicating the problem of gender-based violence (GBV) was questioned after allowing the re-election of Manana, who had been convicted of attacking women.
Manana ranked second on the list of 80 new NEC members that was released at the Nasrec Expo Centre on Wednesday. Manana received 2,152 votes, surpassing the former premier of KwaZulu-Natal, Sihle Zikalala, who obtained 2,218 votes.
Prior to the December 16 opening of the 55th National Conference of the ANC, Manana was barred from running for NEC positions due to failing the screening procedure. At the time, the party’s electoral committee stated that members previously convicted of wrongdoing and sentenced to more than six months cannot run for leadership posts in the NEC when the elective conference begins.
He appealed his disqualification, though, and was cleared.
After attacking three ladies at a Johannesburg nightclub in September 2017, Manana pleaded guilty and was sentenced on three charges of assault with intent to cause serious bodily harm.
He was also required to do 500 hours of community service at Valued Citizen Initiative, a leadership, social justice, and life skills organization.
In a statement in response to the concerns, the former deputy minister stated that he had been rehabilitated and that it would be unfair for society to harass him further.
“Only a sick society can harass a person indefinitely, even after he/she has made enormous reparations, turned a new leaf, shown remorse, and accepted responsibility for his/her mistakes.
“Anti-GBV organizations and/or activists have a duty to mend our shattered society and even accept when persons undergo or have experienced a process of reform and rehabilitation. They simply cannot close their eyes. How else can one pay his debts besides by reforming and turning a fresh leaf?”
In his defense, Manana stated that in acknowledgment of his prior high post in the interest of the ANC, he opted to resign “without hesitation” when the incident occurred, adding that he also resigned from all party positions for the good of the party and to seek rehabilitation.
“Surely, a normal community should recognize that after five years, a person would have served the punishment for his or her bad behavior, unless he or she commits the same offense without remorse.
“The criminal justice system has adopted a punishment strategy that tries not only to prevent the offender from committing other crimes, but also to promote reform. Particularly, sentencing is intended not to condemn the offender, but rather to reform the offender, so ensuring the offender’s reintegration into society as a law-abiding citizen, he explained.
Manana, who believes that society is unfairly pursuing him, argues that after a person has been rehabilitated, they should be “integrated back into society.”
“Reintegration into society usually necessitates the individual’s ability to acquire employment or run for public office.
“Therefore, it is humbling to have received such a large number of votes, and this wonderful vote of confidence in my leadership by the vast majority of our branches and even South Africans is indicative of a culture that forgives and believes in the rehabilitation of individuals. I continue to be an anti-GBV campaigner, just as we all should be (previous victims of GBV, reformed perpetrators, and other men and women of honor who abhor any type of violence directed mostly at women and children),” he stated.
Manana’s leadership may be criticized by many, but it is lauded within the ANC, whose members overwhelmingly supported him during the conference. He has pledged to honor his position as a member of the party’s highest decision-making body.
“Finally, to the branches of the ANC and delegates to the 55th ANC National Conference, I will carry this humbling mandate to serve with humility, and I pledge to do right by your organization, to be part of the broader ANC renewal programme, and to meet the expectations of the South African people,” Manana concluded.
»Mduduzi Manana defends his re-election to the NEC«