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Ace Magashule, Secretary General of the ANC. (Photo: Jabu Kumalo)
- ANC Secretary General Ace Magashule says the ANC should take its time to act on the integrity commission report that it says it should resign.
- Magashule was in her hometown of Parys to address a men’s dialogue.
- His followers have come to his defense, questioning the leaking of the report.
The ANC should “take our time” to decide how to act on the report of the party’s integrity commission, which recommends that he resign as ANC general secretary, Ace Magashule said on Wednesday.
In response to media inquiries about the report, which was leaked the day before, the party official accused of fraud and corruption indicated that he would not immediately resign, but would instead leave it to the party’s national executive committee (CNE) , of whom he would follow suit.
There is a process by the NEC of the ANC, which is the second highest decision-making body in the ANC after the national conference, and I think the integrity commission was doing its job. Let’s leave it there and leave the matter to the NEC.
He said that he respected internal party processes, but that the leaking of the report had surprised him and amounted to “bad discipline.”
Magashule said there should be no media pressure on the ANC to get it to resign. “The ANC must face its processes as a liberation movement. The media must never press.”
READ ALSO | Ace Magashule must step aside immediately, rules ANC integrity commission
In response to a question from EWN’s Tshidi Madia on what message he immediately sent to ordinary South Africans his refusal to resign, he said: “South Africans are not the media. South Africans understand what is happening in the country.”
Magashule appeared in Bloemfontein Magistrates Court last month on 21 counts of fraud, corruption and money laundering in connection with a 255 million rand asbestos eradication tender. He is out on bail of 200,000 rand.
A day after the leak of the integrity commission’s damning report, Magashule returned to her hometown of Parys in the Free State to address a men’s dialogue on drug abuse and gender-based violence, organized by the Maake Seal Foundation. kaNcube.
No ANC colors were used in the event and the covered sports hall where it took place seemed quite empty as the organizers strictly adhered to the government’s Covid-19 regulations by controlling the numbers and spacing out audience members in the seating.
Some Magashule supporters have already questioned how the integrity commission handled the report.
NEC member Tony Yengeni tweeted that he would write to commission chair George Mashamba “to explain this absurdity,” which was to email the report to NEC members.
Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association spokesman Carl Niehaus tweeted that forcing Magashule to step aside would be “undemocratic and unacceptable.”
Magashule has previously said that he would only resign if the ANC branches asked him to, as it was they who elected him.
