President Cyril Ramaphosa’s allies are allegedly trying to block the appointment of Paul Mashatile as deputy president amid fears that he might use
his presence at Union Buildings to dislodge the president from power.
Sources in the ANC said some senior party leaders close to Ramaphosa have put pressure on him not to accept Deputy President David “DD” Mabuza’s resignation.
They claimed Mashatile is not loyal, a move seen by Mabuza’s supporters as an attempt to use him to fight Mashatile.
According to the sources, the president’s supporters have further accused Mashatile of having used his position as acting ANC secretary-general ahead of the Nasrec conference to propel anti-Ramaphosa provincial executive committees in Limpopo, Kwa-Zulu-Natal and North West, to pave his own path to the party’s deputy presidency.
Mashatile approved the provincial ANC conferences, which elected Stan Mathabatha as Limpopo chairperson, Nono Maloi as North West chairperson and Sboniso Duma as KZN leader last year.
The trio eventually supported Zweli Mkhize’s failed bid to unseat Ramaphosa.
This past week, Mashatile was one of four ANC leaders who were sworn as MPs, creating speculation that Mabuza would be replaced.
The Presidency and Luthuli House, the ANC’s headquarters, raised eyebrows when they failed to confirm Mabuza’s resignation for weeks until the deputy president used his brother’s funeral at Phola, in Mpumalanga, as a platform to confirm he had asked to leave.
Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, quickly confirmed Mabuza had requested to resign but he had been asked to stay on.
“People are putting pressure on Ramaphosa not to accept the resignation. Their argument has been that Mabuza contested the list conference and became number 2, and has a couple of years before his term ends.
“The problem though is that Mashatile had said ‘if a new DP is elected in Nasrec he has to be in cabinet and be DP”.
But this has raised the ire of Ramaphosa’s camp. They know Mashatile has the potential of taking over before the term ends due to the relations he has with Mbalula and Julius [Malema],” said one source.
Though Mabuza played a critical role in Ramaphosa’s election as ANC president in 2017, he was excluded from the president’s 2022 slate. Ramaphosa went with Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane as his preferred candidate for ANC deputy president, but former treasurer-general and acting secretary-general Mashatile was elected, beating Mabuyane and Ronald Lamola.
The sources said Mabuza, who apparently felt betrayed by Ramaphosa and Mashatile, was requested to withdraw his resignation but refused.
“His beef with both Mashatile and Ramaphosa comes from the two separate incidents… Now he knows Ramaphosa’s people don’t want Paul, and they want to use him to fight, he is reluctant. He is giving Paul the post he wants and leaves Ramaphosa to fight his own battle with Paul,” he added.
A top Mabuza lobbyist in Mpumalanga told Sunday World Ramaphosa was reaping the fruits of alleged bad advice from Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele.
“I personally visited Ramaphosa and told him to continue with DD. I told him, ‘Chief, Covid-19 disrupted your presidency. The KZN unrest and floods disrupted your presidency. This is time for you and DD to restart your work together.’ But Mondli Gungubele came in and suggested that Oscar Mabuyane was a better option to DD. He even proposed Joemat Pettersson as deputy secretary of the ANC. This gave power to Gauteng and Paul to garner support because DD was overlooked,” said the lobbyist
The ANC strongman added that Ramaphosa was only realising now that Mashatile posed a threat to his presidency.
“DD was respectful towards Ramaphosa. He did nothing to outshine him or undermine his work. But Paul is different. He is going to push him, which is something DD wouldn’t do.”
Mashatile and Mabuza’s phones rang unanswered. Gungubele did not respond to the claims that he had put the president in a tight spot.
The ANC PEC in Gauteng refused to comment. “The ANC in Gauteng will respectfully not wallow in the mud of political conspiracy theories and corridor talks aimed at creating divisions within the ANC,” said spokesperson Lesego Makhubela.
The ANC parliamentary caucus also declined to comment. “The ANC caucus has never been involved in the decisions of who gets appointed to the national executive. That matter is constitutionally the prerogative of the president,” said Luthando Nogcinisa, a communication officer in the chief whip’s office.
ANC national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri did not respond to questions.
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