Ace doesn’t do it for Mbalula

THE KwaZulu-Natal ANC Youth League yesterday expressed disappointment in former league president Fikile Mbalula after he publicly expressed his disapproval of Ace Magashule’s endorsement for the position of ANC secretary-general.

Mbalula had tweeted that Magashule was a “definite no” as Gwede Mantashe’s successor, saying the Free State premier would “finish what is remaining of our movement; he will kill it”.

Last week the ANC Youth League unveiled a list of its preferred candidates to take over the top ANC leadership positions when the party holds its elective conference in December.

This included Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma for president, David Mabuza for deputy president, Nathi Mthethwa as national chairperson, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane as treasurer-general and Jessie Duarte as deputy secretary-general. The league said it wanted Mbalula to be the first ever second deputy secretary-general, a position which does not exist now.

KZN ANC Youth League chairperson Kwazi Mshengu said the league was disappointed that Mbalula, a former leader of the youth league, had expressed his views on a public platform like Twitter.

“We are speaking about someone here who has the phone numbers of the youth league leadership; from the president and even the majority of us, he has our numbers.

“If he had particular views on the matter he should have called us and let us engage rather than engaging us on social media,” said Mshengu.

He said the national executive committee (NEC) of the youth league had agreed at its last meeting that an engagement with former leaders on the matter was necessary. “Having said that, we respect his views and we think we will get a proper platform to engage him on his views and eventually we will find each other.”