ANC infighting will dominate headlines again as deep divisions persist.
Reports emerged at the weekend that an ANC faction linked to secretary-general Ace Magashule is planning a series of protests starting this week over the party’s resolution that leaders and members charged with corruption and wrongdoing, including Magashule, have 30 days to voluntarily step aside or be suspended.
In a win for the so-called reformists in the party who are aligned to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s anti-corruption agenda, the national executive committee (NEC), the party’s highest decision-making body between congresses, resolved recently that the “step-aside rule” must be implemented in line with the guidelines and procedures adopted at its meeting in February.
This means Magashule, who is facing corruption charges, will have to step aside by the end of April. He faces 21 charges of corruption and fraud and theft and money laundering in a case linked to a doomed R255m asbestos contract signed when he was Free State premier. Magashule has previously said that only branches of the ANC can remove him at a special conference.
The Sunday Times reported that Magashule plans to tell party elders that he is being removed to boost Ramaphosa’s campaign for a second term. Citing sources close to Magashule, the paper said the embattled secretary-general is going to argue that the step-aside rule is being selectively implemented to target him and Ramaphosa’s opponents, even though many ANC leaders are accused of wrongdoing.
In a note published last week, Intellidex head of capital markets research Peter Attard Montalto said Magashule is likely to play the victim like former president Jacob Zuma did when he was fired in 2005.
“That said, things can still play out in a complex and messy way. We do not see Magashule standing aside voluntarily and instead will see out the full 30 days and then be suspended to get the maximum victim status ... He may well, in the interim, try and get a stay on his suspension from a court — a court may well award this and so he would remain in post.”
Meanwhile in parliament, the portfolio committee on co-operative governance & traditional affairs will on Tuesday hear from the department and the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) on the state of readiness for the 2021 local government elections.
The elections are set to take place between August and November as the term of office of SA’s councils comes to an end. Various political parties have previously asked the IEC to look at the possibility and feasibility a postponement as Covid-19 infections mount.
In January EFF leader Julius Malema publicly called for the elections to be postponed. He said the EFF, the third-largest party in SA, should have started its campaign in July 2020 but could not meet internally as a result of the severe restrictions on movement and gatherings. He said these constraints affected all political parties.
IEC officials have previously stated that the commission was still preparing for the election to take place within the constitutionally provided period and that it is not up to them to determine the date of the election. It is the legal responsibility of co-operative governance & traditional affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
On Wednesday the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference will host a panel discussion on SA’s water infrastructure and local municipality supply challenges. It says the socioeconomic impact of the shortfall in water infrastructure and supply is already severe and is likely to increase, exacerbated by the effects of climate change.
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