Is The Future Of The 'Yes' Voters Bleak?

It may or may not be the case that the reason Lindiwe Sisulu & Zweli Mkhize were absent in today's Parliamentary Voting on the s89 Panel Report was because they were advised that if they voted "yes" then they'd face suspension\expulsion from the party. I cannot prove nor disprove this as I am quite far from being in a position where I'd be certain of such 'sensitive' information.

It doesn't sound too far fetched though if you consider that there's been threats of "internal party processes" to follow for "those that voted yes". While I do understand and respect that joining an organization\political party requires one to discard personal interests together with individualism, after all the whole point of becoming part of a movement that shares the same values and principles as you is to let go of "self" for the greater good of society. As much as I respect this, I do not believe it is wise that whenever members of a political party have opposing views on a matter, the immediate solution ought to be expelling each other. 

This is not effective in the long run for a number of reasons: one, it does not solve the matter being dealt with and secondly, that is no logical way to resolve matters, it doesn't even work in a household much less a party as big as the ANC. Various people join politics for various reasons;  some use it as some form of careerism (these are Former President Thabo Mbeki's words) whilst others genuinely believe it can serve as a vehicle for driving change and I guess that is the beauty of democracy, diversity is both tolerated and accommodated. 

For the sake of this piece, we'll focus on the latter and for that, it is important we point out that there is a distinction between ANC matters & matters of national interest. This particular voting wasn't necessarily an issue facing just the ANC alone, this is why I find it problematic for anyone to say members of the ANC that voted "yes" voted with the opposition. 

It is not always an ANC v Opposition battle, when a person makes a vote based on their conscience and personal principle, they're not siding with the enemy and calling for their dismissal from Cabinet and expulsion from the ANC is a bit too much and it shows the party isn't willing to actually put to task their "renewal" talk because a rebirth would require proper self-introspection with opposing opinions likely arising.

Surely it can't be that the only way to deal with internal conflicts is through dismissing members, that would just show that there's a lack of well functioning mechanisms within the party intended to aid in times of conflicts, also this isn't a new development we've never seen before so one can only hope the party has learnt that harshly expelling a member with a large following isn't always the best of ideas, I'd like us to look at former ANCYL President Julius Malema & the formation of the EFF here. 

I do not think the ANC will expel Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma for voting 'yes' or for any other reason at all (she hasn't been caught up in any corruption scandal, it seems the only thing they can use to taint her Presidential campaign is to associate her with her married name) but if any of them ever thought it was a good idea to do so, I'm not too sure she'd frantically start a political party considering the decades she has dedicated to the ANC & her staunch belief in the revival of the party although a breakaway which breeds a new party seems to be the trend. 

However, I cannot be too confident on this because it seems she does really want to be President and take the people to the land of milk and honey at all costs. As much as I do believe in collective decisions within parties but I do not share that people should blindly follow leaders even to their own detriment as was in the case of NDZ who voted 'yes' because [she] is "a disciplined member of the ANC." 

Expelling members that you disagree with is the easiest way to not have to deal with opposing opinions but it isn't always the most effective way of handling intra-party conflicts as it, most often than not, breeds fertile ground for new political parties whose sole purpose is "to remove the ANC from power" and not necessarily to govern and drive change.

Edit: They won't suspend her before NASREC, there's no need because she's not a threat, she doesn't have numbers. The humiliation of the loss will do the work, I'm guessing they're banking on the fact that it will also crush the Presidential dreams of anyone who thinks they can stand against the giant(s), it works to their advantage. It would be a different case if it were the other gentleman. Also what's that saying about keeping your enemies close?