Johannesburg – African National Congress secretary general Gwede Mantashe has rubbished ANC MP Makhosi Khoza’s fears that her disciplinary hearing was an opportunity for an ambush.

Speaking at the Oliver Tambo memorial lecture in Vosloorus, about 30km south of Johannesburg on Sunday, Mantashe said the ANC would have been playing to the gallery if they would have allowed Khoza to determine the venue for the hearings.

Mantashe said he was asked by a journalist why the ANC did not consider Khoza’s claims that her life would be in danger if the disciplinary hearings were held on Sunday.

“I said don’t change the venue because it’s playing to the gallery. I did not want her to get a gallery, she must go to the hearings. Finish.”

READ: Khoza threatened again, disciplinary process postponed

Mantashe said he instructed the ANC in KZN to continue the hearings as planned.

He said the journalist conceded that the venue was harmless and that Khoza had nothing to fear.

“The journalist said: ‘You are right. There is no threat, it’s peaceful and the work will be done properly.'”

Khoza has been charged with bringing the party into disrepute by the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal.

She had earlier said that the time and venue for her disciplinary hearings had made her suspicious because no meeting of this type was held on a Sunday.

Her hearing was adjourned on Sunday due to threats against her, News24 earlier reported.

Khoza failed to pitch up for her disciplinary hearings on Sunday with her representative, the ANC’s Smanga Sethene, indicating that her absence was a result of threats that emerged on Saturday evening, the ANC said in a statement.

The disciplinary committee said it had given Khoza an opportunity to come to pre-trial hearings prior to Sunday.

Her hearing was postponed to next Sunday, September 17.