If ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma is prosecuted and found guilty on charges arising from the recent Schabir Shaik case, it would put the ANC’s disciplinary structures through their most strenuous test since the party’s establishment.

Never before in its 93-year history has the party been confronted by a disciplinary dilemma involving such a high-ranking member.

Errant senior members have felt the wrath of the party — past ANC presidents John Dube, James Moroka, Alfred Xuma and Zacharia Mahabane all lost their positions after they defied the wishes of ANC membership.

But they were voted out; none were expelled by a disciplinary committee.

Two years ago the party’s disciplinary committee found former ANC chief whip Tony Yengeni guilty of bringing the ANC into disrepute and of contravening the party’s code of conduct.

Yengeni was given a suspended sentence of three years on condition he was not found guilty of similar offences again.

Zuma will face a similar disciplinary process should he be found guilty in a court of law.

The National Prosecuting Authority, which initially declined to charge Zuma because it felt that its case against him was “not winnable” in court, is expected to take steps against the former deputy president following Judge Hilary Squires’ finding that “a generally corrupt relationship” existed between Zuma and Shaik.

Judging by the ANC’s recent hardline stance against corruption and fraud within its ranks, the party could charge Zuma with contravening some of its own constitutional rules.

In terms of the ANC’s constitution, a member can be hauled before a disciplinary committee if he is:

•Convicted in a court of law for any serious, non-political offence;

• Believed to have behaved in a manner that brings the organisation into disrepute or which “manifests a flagrant violation of the moral integrity” expected of ANC members;

•Believed to be abusing his elected position in the organisation or government to obtain undue advantage or enrichment; or

•Believed to be behaving corruptly in seeking or accepting a bribe for performing any task.

Penalties for violations of the ANC constitution range from a reprimand to expulsion.

But ANC officials say action is unlikely to be taken by the party before the matter has been heard in court. They point to the cases of Yengeni and former ANC Women’s League president Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, which dragged on for several years in court before the party took any action.

“We cannot be seen to be pre-judging the court process by taking disciplinary action against a member while a legal case against them is still pending,” said a senior party official.

Given Zuma’s popularity and the fact that he is the second-most powerful politician in the ANC hierarchy, disciplinary action against him is likely to cause major divisions in the party.

Despite the seriousness of the charges, expulsion is not likely in Zuma’s case — especially judging by the party’s history.

Over the past nine decades, the party has rarely expelled members from its ranks.

The most famous expulsion was that of Ambrose Makiwane and seven other party members in 1975 for forming a splinter group to oppose the organisation’s decision to open its membership to all races.

Since 1994, only former Transkei military ruler Bantu Holomisa and the late KwaZulu-Natal Midlands strongman, Sifiso Nkabinde, have been expelled from the ANC.

Holomisa, who later formed the United Democratic Movement, was forced to leave the ANC after he asked the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate fellow ANC member, Cabinet minister Stella Sigcau, for allegedly receiving a bribe during her days as a Transkei Bantustan politician.

Nkabinde was kicked out of the party following allegations that he had been an apartheid-era spy.

With acknowledgements to S'thembiso Msomi and the Sunday Times.