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ANC Secretary General Ace Magashule addresses the media about the results of a meeting of the National Working Committee (NWC) at the party headquarters in Luthuli House on February 26, 2019.
PHOTO: Gallo Images / Alaister Russell
- An ANC member and former youth league leader lashed out at two NEC members who called for Secretary General Ace Magashule to step aside.
- This comes as the NEC is expected to meet this weekend.
- A letter has also surfaced calling for NEC member Oscar Mabuyane to be investigated and detained before the integrity commission.
Beleaguered former ANC Youth League Vice President and former Councilor Andile Lungisa has responded to National Executive Committee (NEC) members Oscar Mabuyane and Mondli Gungubele, following their calls on ANC Secretary General Ace Magashule to remove.
The public statements come ahead of the NEC’s scheduled meeting for this weekend, where a resolution is expected to be discussed that those involved in wrongdoing should step aside. The NEC will hold its annual lekgotla, in conjunction with a regular NEC meeting, to map out its plans for the year before President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) in February.
The two party leaders, who are known allies of Ramaphosa, made public statements declaring that Magashule should “do the right thing.
Speaking to News24’s sister publication City Press, Mabuyane contested claims of a politically orchestrated attack on Magashule, adding that someone in the post of secretary general deals with issues that are tabulated and implemented.
READ | Mabuyane asks Magashule to step aside
Gungubele, the former deputy finance minister, spoke to EWN and expressed disappointment that Magashule had yet to step aside.
Calls for Magashule to step aside were amplified when the integrity commission recommended that he either step down from office or face suspension.
Lungisa, a Magashule ally in the Eastern Cape, has objected to the remarks.
Speaking to News24, Lungisa lashed out at the two NEC members, saying they should raise their issues internally.
He said:
If, as ordinary members of the ANC, we need to remove elected leaders, they will be part of that list that must be removed.
Lungisa added that Gungubele had no authority to ask an elected member to withdraw due to allegations made during his tenure as deputy finance minister of misconduct at the PIC.
A letter to the top six and the integrity commission also emerged after Mabuyane’s remarks from a member of the ANC branch asking to be investigated.
READ ALSO | ‘There is no professional crisis’: the top 5 quotes from the vice minister of finance in PIC Inquiry
The letter refers to allegations that were later investigated by Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane, related to allegations of misconduct.
The allegations against Mabuyane were first reported by the Mail & Guardian after an ANC businessman, Lonwabo Bam, alleged that an invoice was sent to his company for renovations at Mabuyane’s home.
Bam claimed that the local municipality of Mbizana paid him a sum of 1.1 million rand for work he did not do, which was facilitated by ANC Eastern Cape treasurer Babalo Madikizela to pay for the renovations of Mabuyane’s house. for a value of 450,000 rand.
Mabuyane explained to the provincial integrity commission that he asked Madikizela for a loan.
Mabuyane was later acquitted of any crime by the provincial commission.
