Major Ace fight back on cards
A PUSH to reinstate suspended ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule is being engineered in KwaZulu-Natal and North West under suspended ANC MP and former North West premier Supra Mahumapelo.
Mahumapelo launched a veiled attack against the ANC top leadership for its decision to suspend Magashule, stating that the move was not in line with the country’s Constitution.
Magashule was served a suspension letter last week following charges of fraud and corruption against him in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court in November last year.
In March, the ANC national executive committee (NEC) urged all senior members facing criminal charges to step aside or face suspension, and gave them 30 days to do so.
In leaked recordings of a virtual NEC meeting held recently, former president Thabo Mbeki could be heard urging members to seriously consider the submissions by Limpopo Premier Stan Mathabathe, ANC Women’s League leader Bathabile Dlamini and secretary-general Meokgo Motuba about the state of the ANC.
Mathabathe had raised the issue of hatred among ANC members within the party and asked the NEC to consider holding a retreat for two or three days to deal with its internal differences.
Also heard speaking in the meeting clips leaked to the media was Dakota Legoete, a close ally of Magashule, who urged ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa to become a leader of the ANC and not “president of a faction”.
Despite Magashule’s absence at the meeting, those in support of him lodged a fight back in the virtual NEC meeting by calling for a discussion on Ramaphosa’s purported “suspension”.
Meanwhile, Mahumapelo and 68 branches of the ANC in the eThekwini region yesterday sang from the same hymn sheet. They shared Magashule’s sentiments that every cadre accused of or reported to be involved in corrupt practices accounts to the Integrity Committee immediately or faces DC processes – not only those charged in criminal courts.
In his address to the North West Pastors’ Forum, Mahumapelo, who was accompanied by various ANC leaders in the North West and members of the ANC Youth League in the Ngaka Modiri region, was critical of his party's decision to suspend Magashule.
He asked what the party would do if Magashule was acquitted in a court of law.
“Some of the ANC resolutions taken at the national conference are in conflict with the laws of the Republic.
“Let us not judge them while facing charges in court. What will happen if they are acquitted on all charges against them?” he asked.
In KwaZulu-Natal, 68 branches lodged a twin campaign in favour of Magashule and Zuma.
Their statement, read by Ntando Khuzwayo, chairperson of the Gedleyihlekisa sub-region, said the majority of ANC members in their region called for Magashule’s reinstatement and for the NEC to be disbanded.
Commenting on the impasse in the ANC, political analyst Dr Ralph Mathekga said: “They (ANC NEC) have been pushed into a corner where they had no other way than to escalate this thing to show they are resolute on the decision they have taken.
“That does not mean the backlash ends right here.
“Certainly, if you say to someone they are fired and they come back the next day – you then change the locks. They have just changed the locks on those. The question is what will be next."