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Cape Town – African National Congress MP Makhosi Khoza on Wednesday rejected an offer for protection services by Parliament, saying she cannot expect her ‘executioner’ to have mercy for her.
"I’m being persecuted because I can no longer tow the party line. I cannot accept corruption, looting, a disregard for the people who brought us to power and the propping up of growing kleptocracy," Khoza said in a statement.
Khoza has been the subject of threats and intimidation for nearly three months after she started speaking out on the state of the ANC and its president, Jacob Zuma.
"My statements in the recent past simply mirror that which millions of South Africans have been saying, they have had enough. To side with the ANC of today requires me to disregard my moral fibre."
"It is within this context that I have chosen not to accept the police protection that was finally offered to me by Parliament and the SAPS. These issues are all interrelated. I cannot expect my "executioner" to plead mercy for me."
National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete and National Council of Provinces chairperson Thandi Modise on July 17 agreed to work with the police to provide security for Khoza.
They reached the decision after having received a security assessment, spokesperson Moloto Mothapo said in a statement. Police compiled the assessment after Khoza began receiving threats in April.
This followed her oversight work as chairperson of the public service and administration portfolio committee.
Her committee inspected a Mpumalanga hospital and was scathing of the institution's functioning.
She received more death threats for being critical of President Jacob Zuma in a post on social media. Khoza posted screen grabs of the threatening texts on her Facebook page on July 16.
They said she had "21 days to live". She claimed at a public debate on Tuesday, July 11, that her daughter had received death threats from the same people.
Read the full statement below:
DISCIPLINARY CHARGES AND RESPONSE TO OFFER OF PROTECTION
Earlier today I received formal notification of the disciplinary charges the ANC in KwaZulu Natal has chosen to level against me.
This morning, Comrade Ravi Pillay telephoned me to inform me that the disciplinary hearing will take place on 10 September 2017.
I am consulting with my attorney on this matter. In the recent past, several senior ANC officials including members of parliament, have publicly raised their concerns regarding our President. No action has been taken against those individuals. The ANC will need to explain why I am being singled out.
As a life-long and loyal member of the ANC, I respect the processes of the organisation and I will attend the disciplinary hearing, as is required.
I do, however, have significant reservations as to the fairness I can expect of the process, considering senior leaders within the ANC have publicly called for my dismissal. The ANC’s constitution, upon which the disciplinary processes are built, was developed to guide the ANC I joined when I was 12 years-old.
That was the ANC where members were required to truly live the values and principles of our organisation.
That was the ANC that valued selfless dedication in the struggle for a democratic South Africa and a genuine concern for the will of the people, as captured in the principles of Batho Pele – People First.
Our current leadership is not putting the people first. Our current leadership does not live the values of our organisation yet they choose to selectively apply sections of our organisation’s constitution to quell any voices of discontent.
The ANC will not tolerate dissenting voices and these charges are proof of that. I was raised in an ANC that spoke truth to power.
I spoke truth to power in the 80s and 90s and I want to belong to an ANC that still values its founding principles. I’m being persecuted because I can no longer tow the party line.
I cannot accept corruption, looting, a disregard for the people who brought us to power and the propping up of growing Kleptocracy.
My ANC suffocates reason, morality and ethical behaviour. My statements in the recent past simply mirror that which millions of South Africans have been saying, they have had enough.
To side with the ANC of today requires me to disregard my moral fibre. I am no longer willing to be an apologist for an organisation and a leader that has lost its way. It is within this context that I have chosen not to accept the police protection that was finally offered to me by Parliament and the SAPS.
These issues are all interrelated. I cannot expect my “executioner” to plead mercy for me.
I started receiving death threats over three months ago and I filed police reports over two months ago. I begged parliament for protection for myself and my family. This was denied to me.
I therefore take action and sourced my own protection services. It was only when the matter was recently thrust into the public domain by media reports, were services suddenly offered.
After much consideration, it is clear to me that I cannot accept protection from the same people that have been so reckless in their behaviour and who themselves have placed me in heightened danger.
Minister of Police and his deputy have taken to public platforms to aggressively criticise me and level completely false and defamatory accusations at me.
Despite this I am now expected, after months of being ignored, to now accept security services from the very people who seek to challenge me.
Based on the action of the Minister and his deputy, I have little basis upon which to trust the protection that he has offered. While I am grateful that the police have finally recognised the legitimacy of my threats, I owe it to my family and myself to continue using the protection that I have already arranged and importantly, I trust.
Thus, I respectfully decline the State’s offer of protection services.
Issued by: Makhosi Khoza
