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JOHANNESBURG – Dr Makhosi Khoza is considering her future as an ANC member.

On Thursday, the governing party removed her as chairperson of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration.

The forthright MP told the Ruth First roundtable at Wits, shortly after her axing, that the ANC is no longer the organisation she joined.

“We need to reflect as South Africa – and begin to ask the difficult question: are we as the liberation movement building this country or are we breaking this country?” she said.

Khoza was adamant she was fired for standing up against corruption and voting with her conscience in the no confidence motion against President Jacob Zuma.

WATCH: Lets defend the Constitution – Makhosi Khoza

But the party defended itself, claiming her sacking had to do with a breakdown in the relationship between her and ANC committee members.

It said Khoza hurled insults at committee members who failed to appear at a scheduled oversight meeting on Tuesday when Minister Faith Muthambi was due to answer questions on irregular expenditure and nepotism.

The absent MPs told chief whip Jackson Mthembu that Khoza was guilty of ill-discipline and they would not attend any meetings with her until the issue was addressed by the party.

LISTEN: Mantashe defends Khoza decision

“She has destroyed the relationship with her subordinates – if I may use that word – in that committee. Because since chairing the committee she has gone out and insulted those members of the committee. We say: remove her as chairperson of the committee, we keep her as an MP,” said ANC secretary-general, Gwede Mantashe.

Khoza did not comment on the supposed spat and said she is now considering her future in the party.

“I am thinking very seriously. I am going to think a lot in the next few weeks. If I have to meditate I will do so,” said Khoza.

Questions are now also being asked about whether other dissenters, especially those who also “voted with their conscience” again Zuma, will remain in the ANC. 

eNCA

Pretoria – Three of the five men accused of assaulting a couple at a KFC in Pretoria are expected back in the Pretoria North Magistrate’s Court for their bail application on Friday.

Stephan Nel, 39, Joshua Scholtz, 21, and DJ van Rooyen, 21, are facing charges of attempted murder, assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm, and pointing a firearm.

They allegedly attacked a black couple at a KFC drive-through in Montana on August 2.

Co-accused Marius Harding, 23, previously abandoned his bail application and Ockert Muller, 20, has already been granted bail.

At their previous court appearance on August 10, Van Rooyen told the court that he had ordered his food and was told it would take some time.

EXCLUSIVE: KFC assault accused allegedly beat petrol attendants, called them the K-word

‘Clenched fists’

The couple was parked behind him and the other accused were in a car behind them. While waiting, the husband got out of his car and confronted Van Rooyen.

Van Rooyen said a security guard told the husband to get back into his car. The man’s wife told him to do the same.

READ: Second video of KFC assault emerges

After the first assault, which Van Rooyen said he was not part of, both the husband and wife allegedly began punching Muller.

“At that point I intervened and hit him [the husband] with clenched fists,” Van Rooyen said.

A disturbing video of the assault, which was widely shared on social media, shows a number of men assaulting the couple.

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE: 

A woman can be heard shouting: “Are you going to hit me? Are you going to hit me?”

The men, who are white, can be heard shouting obscenities.

Later the woman, who is black, can be heard shouting: “Don’t hit my man.”

The accused stated that they did not know each other and did not act as one group.

News24 revealed this week that Harding was arrested in 2014 for allegedly assaulting three petrol pump attendants at a fuel station in the small town of Petrus Steyn.

Harding, who was 19 at the time, appeared in court alongside Jordaan Barend, 18, and Winston Brinklow, 23. The trio, who worked for a construction company at the time, appeared in court on the same day as their arrest on June 17, 2014.

The case was then postponed to June 20, 2014, for a formal bail application, and all three accused were released on bail. The bail amount was not stipulated in the docket.

“They were charged with common assault and crimen injuria. The case was postponed to October 29th 2014, but the suspects did not attend court and a warrant of arrest was issued,” said police spokesperson Sergeant Sinah Mpakane.

Harding, Barend and Brinklow have to date not been traced on their given addresses.

Mpakane added that the case was also referred to the director of public prosecutions because “the victims were also called ‘k*****s'”.