Magashule goes on offense ahead looming deadline
WITH only two weeks remaining for ANC leaders charged with corruption and other serious charges to step aside, ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule has gone on a charm offensive, encouraging even the religious sector to assist the ruling party in maintaining stability.
Magashule yesterday paid a visit to Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla homestead to seek advice from the former head of state.He also revealed he was in consultation with the clergy as he sought guidance on the party’s step-aside rule.
The sitting of the party’s regular National Executive Committee (NEC) resolved late last month that leaders facing corruption charges and other serious charges needed to step aside or face suspension.
On his list of those he would consult, Magashule mentioned former presidents Thabo Mbeki, Kgalema Motlanthe and Zuma, alongside former ANC treasurer-general Mathews Phosa. However, yesterday Magashule indicated he had also sought divine intervention from the church.
“I have done a lot of consultation, be it with churches, everybody. And I do have some guidance, not counselling, guidance,” Magashule said.
On Tuesday, Magashule met with Phosa, saying that he had already been in talks with Motlanthe to plan for their meeting, while Mbeki would be the last of the senior party leaders he would meet. Magashule would not be drawn on the granular details of his tête-à-tête with the former president, but said that once his consultations were over, he would be briefing the media on the outcome of the talks.
Outside of the resolution made by the ANC NEC on the step-aside order, Magashule last week wrote to the party’s nine provincial secretaries requesting a list of names of all members charged with corruption or other serious crimes, and those who are alleged, reported or implicated in corrupt practices, by today.
Yesterday, as his talks with Zuma got under way, about 300 proMagashule ANC members from the Free State protested outside the ANC’s Luthuli House headquarters, but the secretary-general distanced himself from the group.
“I haven’t and I will never mobilise anybody against the ANC. This is the time for the ANC to actually even unite more,” Magashule said.
Meanwhile, Magashule’s supporters picketed outside Luthuli House, saying branches held the power on which leaders they wanted in the ruling party, and they opposed recent decisions taken by the NEC.