ANC leaders won't be able to 'duck and dive'

2012-06-28 22:25

Northern Cape ANC chairperson John Block is involved in a drawn-out court battle fighting fraud charges. Leaders who are being investigated will no longer be able to hide behind the "innocent until proven guilty" slogan, the party has decided. (Sapa)

Johannesburg - African National Congress leaders who are being investigated will no longer be able to hide behind the "innocent until proven guilty" slogan.

At the party's policy conference in Midrand, ANC Gauteng Secretary David Makhura the party decided that leaders will have to "step aside" if they are being investigated, as ongoing investigations tarnish the image of the party, City Press reported.

"Going forward, we can't have the ANC ducking and diving, that's the clear message from this policy conference," he told reporters at a briefing on the sidelines of the ANC's policy conference in Midrand.

Makhura also said that disciplinary processes should be sped up - until now those investigated simply stated they were innocent until a court found them guilty, and carried on with their official duties and received their government salaries.

Although leaders at the conference did not want to talk about specific cases, the most prominent case is that of John Block, Northern Cape ANC chairperson, City Press said.

He is involved in a drawn-out court battle fighting fraud charges, but is still the provincial finance minister.

- News24