The ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) was locked in a heated meeting on Sunday night where it was expected to discuss the fate of secretary-general Ace Magashule and recommendations by its integrity commission.
The watershed meeting of the party’s highest decision-making body was expected to take a final decision on whether members and leaders facing charges in court should resign from their positions pending the finalisation of their matters.
Magashule is one of the leaders facing this fate if the ANC implements guidelines that it has drawn up on the issue. The integrity commission last year recommended that he step aside from his position.
It was expected that President Cyril Ramaphosa’s closing remarks to the meeting would be broadcast live, but late on Sunday this was postponed as the meeting continued.
Magashule and his supporters are reported to have come under fire during the virtual meeting, with some NEC members calling for him to be disciplined for bringing the party into disrepute.
This was after Magashule went on a Durban-based radio station saying MPs who did not vote in parliament to establish an inquiry on whether to remove public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane had done the right thing. This was despite the ANC top officials, of whom he is one, mandating MPs to vote in favour of the inquiry. Magashule contradicted them, saying the top six was not a structure of the party and the matter should be discussed by the ANC’s NEC.
The Sunday Times reported that the charge was led by Joel Netshitenzhe, who published an opinion piece in the Daily Maverick in which he criticised Magashule’s conduct and the so-called radical economic transformation faction he is seen to be part of. It was also reported that former president Thabo Mbeki spoke out against him, saying the office of the secretary-general had been weakened.
Magashule has constantly contradicted decisions taken by the party, Ramaphosa and his fellow top six leaders.
His fate after this weekend’s meeting is not yet clear. In the past he has said that only branches of the ANC can remove him from office.
The meeting comes more than a month after the NEC adopted the guidelines on criminally charged individuals. At its NEC meeting in February, the party reaffirmed that those facing corruption charges should voluntarily step down from positions in the party and the government. If they refused, the party could suspend them.
The guidelines are a framework that guides how the ANC executes issues of stepping aside. The national working committee was mandated to finalise the guidelines in March.
The ANC has been vacillating on the issue and kicking the can down the road as it tries to restore its image after years of allegations of corruption.
Should the “step aside” resolution not be enforced by
the NEC, the efficacy of Ramaphosa’s reform and anti-corruption agenda will be called into question.
In the recent past allegations of corruption have hurt the ANC’s electoral support, especially in the 2016 local government elections, where it lost control of three of the country’s metros. The ANC gained some ground again in 2019 on the back of Ramaphosa’s anticorruption ticket, but with the 2021 local government elections looming, voters might not be convinced of his sincerity.
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