TIME TO FLUSH OUT THE ACE
The resignations of ANC MPS who missed out on undeserved cabinet positions opens a new front in the battle for control of state resources. The terrain of struggle has now moved to Luthuli House, headquarters of the party once so ably led by Inkosi Albert Luthuli, Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela. The looters who operated so freely during the Jacob Zuma years, in cahoots with the Gupta family and the Saxonwold Shebeen clique, have regrouped to fight another day.
Party secretary-general Ace Magashule is the new commander. Decisively dealing with him now would free the party to rebuild and reform.
Former ministers Nomvula Mokonyane, Malusi Gigaba and Bathabile Dlamini, along with Carl Niehaus — who has already camped in Magashule’s office — will lead the push against the reform agenda pursued by President Cyril Ramaphosa. They have two incentives in common: to avoid prosecution for the many crimes they’re accused of; and to amass more wealth through state resources. Staying out of jail can be a great motivating factor.
With little else to occupy them, these die-hard stalwarts of the Saxonwold Shebeen will surely try to recruit other ambitious, angry party members and galvanise them to sabotage Ramaphosa’s efforts to restore the integrity of the state.
They will seek to use the party machinery in Magashule’s hands to frustrate economic recovery, so that the dominant Ramaphosa faction has nothing to show for its market-friendly policies.
The good news is that they can be stopped. They have themselves already provided the ammunition — in his haste to frustrate the social order, Magashule has revealed himself as the weakest link.
The ANC should seize the opportunity of Magashule’s reckless outbursts and improper conduct to
cut off the rest of the brigade. His apparent doctoring of the national executive committee statement on the Reserve Bank last week, to make it appear that it had been decided to amend the Bank’s mandate, is a serious offence. Some might use stronger terms — like fraud. Either way, it requires strong disciplinary action.
Magashule’s intervention in the submission of the ANC’S list of parliamentary candidates provides further ammunition. In this case, the party list that left Luthuli House had changed by the time it reached the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). There was no explanation for how some previously agreed candidates had suddenly lost their places.
Where’s Machiavelli when you need him
Last month the high court in Joburg ordered the ANC to include Ponani Makhubele from Limpopo on its list of candidates for the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) after she proved her name had mysteriously been removed from parliamentary lists formally approved by the party for submission to the IEC.
When Makhubele realised her name had been deleted, she reached a confidential agreement with the party to send her to the NCOP. When the party reneged on this agreement, she went to court. Magashule, no surprise, was custodian of the whole process. Many more ANC members, particularly in the North West, complain of being victims of this kind of sleight of hand.
These are matters the ANC can deal with internally, without waiting for the law enforcement agencies. As Niccolò Machiavelli would advise, the punishment for these deeds should be so severe that his vengeance will not be feared.
Cutting Magashule loose, after a disciplinary process, would terminate his ability to abuse the ANC’S infrastructure to undermine reform. But the job will only be complete when the National Prosecuting Authority steps up to the plate.
Punishment for these deeds should be so severe that Magashule’s vengeance will not be feared