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In a virtual update on Monday, December 7, ANC Secretary General Ace Magashule did not answer questions and presented a picture of a nondescript meeting.
Halfway through the first meeting of the National Executive Committee since ANC Secretary General Ace Magashule was accused of corruption in November, the issue had yet to come up.
Giving the media a “virtual door update” on Zoom, Magashule reviewed the agenda items and did not include whether the charges he was facing had arisen. The party had also not discussed the “step aside” rule. This is a reference to the party’s repeated resolution that leaders accused of corruption or other criminal offenses must resign from their duties.
The ANC has commissioned three legal opinions on the constitutionality of the rule and a fourth opinion was voluntarily provided. Most reportedly prefer that Magashule not go on gardening leave.
Magashule held a briefing for journalists and did not answer questions. He confirmed that former Presidents Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma had joined the NEC virtual meeting again.
He said that President Cyril Ramaphosa had laid out his political outlook and that the meeting had discussed the economy (expected to rebound but still likely to remain in recession), employment, and relationships in the Tripartite Alliance (the political pact between the ANC, the Cosatu federation union and the Communist Party of South Africa).
Magashule said a report on state-owned companies had been submitted. He listed the party’s priorities at the NEC meeting as “GBV (gender violence); ANC (branch conferences); poverty and unemployment; and Covid-19 “.
“The meeting is frank … We are happy … [it is continuing on a] auspicious and constructive note “.
But Working day reported that it was a tense meeting in which the group of those who will not depart will come face to face with the group of those who will not depart. He reported that a compromise was likely: instead of resigning, Magashule would appear before the Integrity Commission.
The Integrity Commission invited Magashule to appear before it in August to explain the comments she made on the matter to a television interviewer. Nothing came of his meeting with the commission, which he considers “unilateral.”
In August, Daily maverick reported that: “From Magashule’s side, it is said that he sees the letter as one more example of the Commission’s alleged ‘unilateral’ findings. His team wants the commission to also investigate the genesis of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s R500 million funding for his campaign to become ANC president in 2017 and he wants an investigation to be opened into the alleged vote buying at that conference. “
The Integrity Commission’s convocation to Ace Magashule sets the stage for a fierce special ANC NEC anti-corruption meeting
Regardless of what the commission decides on Magashule, it is unlikely to agree to it, as its conclusions are not binding on ANC members.
Despite the fact that he faces corruption charges, it appears that the strongman’s secretary-general is going to question any effort to have him withdrawn. This raises the ghost of Magashule being on his desk as ANC’s No.1 and on the bench as No.1 defendant when his trial begins next February. Stephen Grootes reported on those implications here.
The NEC meeting continues. DM
