ANC boss Fikile Mbalula has laid down the law and told ANCYL president Collen Malatji and Gauteng elections head Lebogang Maile to stop misbehaving or face disciplinary charges for bringing the ANC into disrepute.
This comes in a week when the cold war between Luthuli House and the ANC in the country’s economic hub reached a climax.
Malatji and Maile stole the political discourse spotlight this week when they fired political salvos against one another in the public domain.
Mbalula told Sunday World he was forced to call the duo to order and promised to haul them over the coals if its public spats do not cease immediately.
“I intervened decisively by engaging both of them to cease the public spats. I told them not to test me, and they fell into line.
“Even this week, I will attend to them in Luthuli House and emphasise that they must never behave like gossip mongers.
“I was shocked to see leaders insulting each other in public, bringing the organisation into disrepute, instead of talking to one another and resolving whatever issues.”
The intervention comes after Malatji, addressing ANC members in West Rand this week, took a swipe at “cigar-smoking” Gauteng leaders who were too busy with “slay queens” while the party’s electoral fortunes in the province took a knock.
In retaliation, Maile took to X (formerly Twitter), fingering Malatji for being sent by “sugar daddies to insult us because they are cowards”, daring them to show their faces.
Due to the political sphithiphithi that this political ping-pong caused, Mbalula said he called both Malatji and Maile individually to seek their explanations, which were not convincing, and he read them the riot act.
“They both came with some technical explanations that I was not interested in, saying they did not mention anyone’s name, and I stopped them right there because it is not about mentioning names,” said Mbalula.
“I asked Collen [Malatji], and he said Lebogang fired the first missile and blamed the youth league for the electoral outcomes of Gauteng and called them useless, so he was hitting back. I told him in no uncertain terms that he was wrong.
“So Lebogang, for his part, said that the ‘cigar smoker’ and entertainer of ‘slay queens’ was referred to him, and ndambuza ke mna ke ‘uneSlay Queen wena?’ (I asked him if he has any slay queens), and he insisted that he believed it was a veiled swipe directed at him. I called both of them to order.”
Mbalula said he also asked Maile if he was referring to him with the “sugar daddies” jibe, but the Gauteng finance MEC said no, going on to explain that he heard that Malatji was being sent to attack him by a national executive committee (NEC) member.
According to Mbalula, there was no beef between him and Gauteng leaders, which he believes is just an “unfortunate perception” that has been fuelled by unrelated events.
Mbalula confirmed that he received a letter from ANC Gauteng top brass seeking a meeting with national officials but he dismissed it and explained to provincial secretary Thembinkosi “TK” Nciza that such a letter was based on a mis-guided suspicion that he was fighting them.
“I clarified with him because their request was based on things I said in my interview with you (Sunday World Engage), and I told him I never attacked them but I was responding to your question.”
But some Gauteng leaders wanted the national official’s platform to vent their displeasure against Mbalula, whom they believe is beefing with them.
According to the provincial executive committee members, it was not a coincidence that ANC leaders believed to be close to Mbalula were having a go at Gauteng leadership all at once.
“The fellow (Mbalula), out of nowhere starts it and accuses us of running the province through Zoom meetings. We await to hear him sustain this malicious allegation, which we doubt he can sustain.
“Then the ANCYL president, whom we all know takes instructions from the SG, enters the fray and attacks Gauteng for electoral decline out of all the provinces. The reality is that not a single ANC province increased its votes,” said a PEC member in Gauteng.
“For instance, the Eastern Cape lost 8%. KZN lost an entire 40%. The Northern Cape lost 13%, and you can go on and on, but the issue is Gauteng. And then Collen (Malatji) is followed by Snuki Zikalala, who calls for our disbandment, saying we mismanaged coalitions.
“Is it a coincidence? We do not think so because the common factor in all of this is the man who delivered both the president of the youth league and his counterpart of the veterans league.”
Zikalala denied calling for Gauteng to be disbanded, saying all he has said is that those making the call must leave the matter in the hands of the NEC meeting scheduled for t Thursday.
“I never said they must be disbanded, but others were pushing that they be disbanded, and I said that proposition can only be discussed at the NEC, which is meeting on the first of August,” said Zikalala. “But Gauteng has done very badly in elections. And we are not happy about their posture towards the DA and how they handled the [government of provincial unity] negotiations because the way they did it is thuggery.”
Gauteng leaders believe their electoral performance should be judged in comparison to all ANC provinces if all is fair and there is no plot against them.
“The NEC is yet to sit down and do a deep dive on electoral performance but you have a faction that is already painting Gauteng with a bad brush.
“Where is the report against Gauteng? It does not exist because this is a factional view for now.”
