The uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) says the inquiry into suspended first deputy president and Parliamentary leader Dr. John Hlophe has started and will be concluded at the end of next month.
He was placed on precautionary suspension from all MKP positions last month.
Speaking to the SABC News, MKP Head of the Presidency Magasela Mzobe says Hlophe is cooperating with the inquiry.
Mzobe says, “I know I was asked to send a letter to his office, the deputy president who accepted the letter that the inquiry would start. The president was asked for his full cooperation and he did confirm that he would fully cooperate with the situation and the enquiry. I’m sure when we come back into the New Year it should be done by the end of January, I’m quite confident.”
He says Hlophe still remains a Member of Parliament.
“He (Jacob Zuma) was bombarded with calls about the removal of chief whip and he had to take an immediate decision to calm the situation, not to remove the deputy president entirely from Parliament. He remains a Member of Parliament, he remains the first deputy of MK, suspended, pending the enquiry because the president wanted to satisfy himself, what are the underlying matters that led to that drastic decision.”
“So, from where I’m sitting he remains a leader of the party, suspended, that is why Comrade Des (van Rooyen) was not appointed as an official leader permanently, he was appointed as an acting leader in Parliament. I’m quite confident once the president has applied his mind Comrade Deputy President will continue playing the role the president will assign him,” he adds.
ATM
Meanwhile, Mzobe says MKP and the African Transformation Party (ATM) is likely to contest under one banner for next year’s Local Government Elections.
He says,”We’ve agreed, the final position will be told to the public early January as we launch the election campaign, but what I can tell members of uMkhonto weSizwe and ATM is that, we will go to the ballot as one organisation, it might be different strategies per municipalities, but you will not find where MK Party, ATM Party appear in the same ballot paper.”
VIDEO| SABC News interviews Mzobe:
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