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Cape Town - ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu says party MPs will not get on the wrong side of the law again as they did when they supported Police Minister Nathi Nhleko's Nkandla report in Parliament.
Mthembu briefed the media on Tuesday at the ANC's offices in Parliament on the outcomes of the party's midterm lekgotla at the weekend.
He said the debacle surrounding investigations into security upgrades at President Jacob Zuma's Nkandla homestead was mostly "water under the bridge" but admitted MPs should not have supported Nhleko's report over the Public Protector's.
"The courts declared the police minister's report invalid so whatever we do, it will be invalid," Mthembu said.
"We should not have acted in the manner we acted as the ANC in Parliament. We should not have agreed with the report of the minister of police on Nkandla.
"This is one area that made us lose our own credibility as members of Parliament."
Mthembu stressed that the party would stay on the right side of the law in future.
"It's something we should not have done. It is something we will not do. We will not do anything that questions the Constitution or any law that we ourselves have passed.
"We commit ourselves to doing this, where we will not under any circumstances be once again found to be on the wrong side of the law or the Constitution."
'Radical shift' for ANC in Parliament
Mthembu also said the ANC wanted to "cleanse and detoxify" itself of the reputational impairment it had suffered in Parliament and would ensure a "radical shift" in how it functioned in the House.
"The unanimous and unambiguous consensus emerging out of this lekgotla is that it shall no longer be business as usual.
"The ANC in Parliament will in both words and deed regain moral high ground, vigorously advance clean governance, champion the fight against corruption, shun incompetence and decisively deal with ill-discipline."
An inquiry into the fitness of the SABC board to hold office was also endorsed by the lekgotla, he said.
"The board's continued disregard for the call to immediately rescind the irrational and unlawful decision to appoint the former COO [Hlaudi Motsoeneng] to another position was strongly condemned by the lekgotla."
He said the board's intransigence was disrespectful towards Parliament and should therefore be stopped.
