President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for Mandla Msibi to immediately step aside, after the MEC of agriculture in Mpumalanga appeared in the Nelspruit magistrate’s court on Monday on charges of murder as a result of a deadly ANC branch meeting in August.
Msibi was remanded after handing himself over to the police. Business Day reliably understands that he was involved in a violent incident at an ANC branch meeting that left two people shot dead, and two others wounded.
“The ANC is clear, anyone charged in a serious criminal matter must step aside. There are processes and the ANC in Mpumalanga must deal with this issue urgently,” Ramaphosa said on the campaign trail in the Northern Cape ahead of the local government elections.
Upon election as party president in December 2017, Ramaphosa called for the end of factions. But the problem has persisted amid competition for nominations into local positions and the potential to access tenders if elected to public office. Factionalism, accusations of vote rigging and violence have also marred the ANC’s process to select candidates for the polls.
While Msibi comes from Mpumalanga, where deputy president David Mabuza served as premier, ANC sources said there was no link between the two men.
“There is no relationship between this guy and DD Mabuza. He is someone who was extremely popular as a councillor and won big support on the ground. That is how he became an MEC,” an ANC leader in Mpumalanga said.
National police spokesperson Vishnu Naidoo says more suspects have already appeared in court on the same matter. “His arrest brings to three the total number of people arrested in connection with this case.”
Msibi, formerly the co-operative governance & traditional affairs MEC, has faced at least 10 criminal charges in recent years. Previous cases included charges of assault, some of which are still pending.
Msibi’s arrest follows a spate of chaotic ANC branch meetings ahead of the 2021 local elections. Factionalism in the ANC has been rife for over a decade. In one of the most violent incidents, the ANC’s former provincial secretary in the Western Cape, Mcebisi Skwatsha, was stabbed in the neck in a party branch meeting in 2008.
Earlier this year, two people were shot and hospitalised at a branch in Waterberg in Limpopo, while in the Eastern Cape, a branch meeting in East London and the Buffalo City metro descended into chaos as members squabbled over candidate nomination processes.
Political analyst Levy Ndou said: “In the process of renewal, the ANC must also find [a way] in which to identify the right people to be within the ANC ...
“People want to find themselves on the list of the ANC, especially in the rural areas, because they know that if they are on the list then the biggest possibility is that they will make it into government.”
Political analyst Ntsikelelo Breakfast said: “Some people see political contestation as posing [a] threat to their ambitions of ascending to power, and a way out of competition is [to annihilate] their political competitors.”
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.