Firebrand Free State ANC councillor and MPAC chair Setshwana Chabeli has publicly labelled the party’s secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula, “a hardcore and unrehabilitated factionalist with presidential ambitions”. She also shockingly branded him “weak” and accused him of spewing verbal diarrhoea.
Chabeli’s blistering attack, delivered via a stinging Facebook post, has electrified the province’s already volatile ANC dynamics and left Mbalula seething with anger.
Known throughout Free State for her fearless candour, Chabeli blasted Mbalula for “sowing division” and stoking factionalism fires in the province.
The flashpoint came after Mbalula wrapped up a memorial lecture for the late Andrew Mlangeni in Bethlehem last Saturday. Chabeli, a member of the Mahlatswetsa ANC branch and the deputy general secretary of the South African Youth Council, was forthright in her views.
Her outrage followed a display at the memorial, where she watched as ANC leaders, including the Free State premier and top officials, turned the memorial into a rally, singing “Ha ene pula ya Mbalula” (“Let Mbalula’s rain fall down”) while 500 party loyalists danced and chanted his praises.
“That spectacle”, Chabeli said, “was the last straw. Dear SG… your verbal diarrhoea is appalling, to say the least. We are aware of what you want to do with the Vrystaat, but you will find us on the ground. We will take you toe to toe,” she posted, tagging Mbalula.
In response, Mbalula told Sunday World that disciplinary action was inevitable. “The Setshwana person is a candidate for ill-discipline, clearly, and she will face the consequences. I did previously engage the province to engage her, and she seems unrepentant. Setshwana has crossed the line.”
Mbalula added that his lecture had emphasised unity and discipline in the ANC, urging members to focus on the party’s work rather than leadership disputes.
Chabeli made it clear she’s not afraid of consequences. “I am open to engaging Mbalula, whom I regard as an enabler of factionalism. I am not scared of the secretary-general, as he is not bigger than the organisation… Cde Mbalula undermines the PEC officials, and he doesn’t even speak to them. This thing must come to an end, as we cannot be subjected to such mediocrity… Cde Mbalula makes Patrice Motsepe a scapegoat while he is campaigning himself.”
On April 5, Chabeli sent Mbalula a WhatsApp message, blasting his tendency to stand at funerals and “boldly speak about reconfiguration and gossip from WhatsApp groups”, the actions, she said, “show how weak he is”.
A PEC member described Chabeli as brave: “This whole thing was about to explode, and Mbalula should introspect on the Free State ‘s political turmoil.”
But Lebohang Molefe, deputy secretary of the ANCWL in the Thabo Mofutsanyana region, condemned Chabeli’s critique as “injurious falsehoods, which warrant disciplinary measures.”
The ANC’s Thabo Mofutsanyana regional secretary Jeff Mohapi said, “The region has noted an absurd post, which sought to reduce such a momentous occasion to an imaginary factional event.”
