If the secretary-general of the ANC, the governing party’s de facto CEO, is to be believed, his get-together with Jacob Zuma was just one big coincidence.
With pressure mounting on him to explain a meeting with the former president in Durban, Ace Magashule finally broke his silence on Tuesday.
That was a full two days after the Sunday Times published a photograph of the clandestine gathering and reported that it was part of a plot to remove President Cyril Ramaphosa, who has made reversing governance failings of the Zuma years a centrepiece of his leadership.
The meeting was also attended by former North West premier Supra Mahumapelo, sacked by the ANC in 2018 amid allegations of maladministration in the province, and ANC Women’s League secretary-general Meokgo Matuba.
The political intrigue in the ANC adds another layer of concern for investors who are unsure that Ramaphosa has the political clout needed to enact reforms and make a dent in fighting an unemployment rate that is nearing 30%.
While he has made progress in some areas, most notably attempts to clean up state-owned enterprises (SOEs), other moves, such as his support for a constitutional amendment to facilitate the expropriation of land without compensation, have prompted concern that he is hostage to opponents in the ANC.
Some of Ramaphosa’s detractors have questioned the legitimacy of his victory over Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
Magashule, a staunch Zuma ally who was elected secretary-general in December, said that he happened to be in Durban that day and decided to call on the former president, without telling officials at Luthuli House, the party’s headquarters in Johannesburg.
He was then surprised to bump into his close associate and friend Mahumapelo at the Maharani hotel where he was to meet Zuma. "Supra Mahumapelo had his own meeting there with Zuma," Magashule said.
As if that was not enough, as far as coincidences go, he then spotted Thanduxolo Sabelo, the Zuma camp’s preferred candidate to be next ANC Youth League president, "passing by".
The one person whose presence he could not explain was that of Matuba, seen in the photo standing behind Zuma.
And what about Dudu Myeni, the former SAA board chair and leader of the Jacob Zuma Foundation? "Dudu Myeni was there at the hotel, I met her," Magashule told eNCA journalist Vuyo Mvoko.
A plot meeting to unseat Ramaphosa? Never, he said.
That is his story and he is sticking to it.
Magashule, who initially denied that he had a meeting with Zuma when the Sunday Times confronted him at the hotel, said on Tuesday he had a one-on-one with the former president to discuss "organisational matters", which he could not elaborate on.
"I did not have a meeting with Supra Mahumapelo, he was [also] there in Durban and that’s where we met."
Asked why he could not publicly come out to dispute the report immediately when he saw it, Magashule stuttered and said he wanted to inform the top six about the planned meeting first. "National officials of the ANC did not know that I’d be meeting with Zuma, but in our national officials meeting yesterday, I briefed them."
However, political analyst Dirk Kotze was not convinced.
"It was so much of a coincidence and was extremely difficult to accept it."
Magashule insisted that ANC leaders had no problem with his meeting. "We did not meet at a secret place. We met at a busy hotel where people are over there. I can assure the collective there is no way I will plot against president of the ANC as he has been elected like me.
"If you say a vote of no confidence in Cyril Ramaphosa, you are saying vote of no confidence in me. I can’t vote myself out."
He said only ANC branches could remove Ramaphosa.
The Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture heard on Monday that the Free State government, at a time when it was led by Magashule, channelled about R79m into media companies owned by the Gupta family, which is alleged to have used its connections with Zuma and his family to direct spending by the government and SOEs towards its business interests.
It was also on his watch that the province became embroiled in the Estina dairy farm debacle, in which R220m meant for emerging farmers is alleged to have been channelled to the Gupta family and its associates.
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