Expelled ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule has rejected the EFF’s invitation to join them and is in the process of forming his own party that will help dislodge the governing party from power.
Magashule dropped the bombshell to Sunday World this week when speaking about his future after his shocking dismissal from Africa’s oldest liberation movement last month.
His decision to nail his colours to mast about his next political move, will put to bed simmering speculation that he was planning to appeal his expulsion from the party, which he served for most of his adult life.
He said he would not appeal his expulsion and would forge ahead with the establishment of a yet-to-be-named political formation.
“The EFF was taking me to parliament, but I said no, I cannot join the EFF,” Magashule told Sunday World. “We are going to form a new party. We are busy with the registration process. It has started, and we will hear of the outcome next week.”
Magashule, who was in Mpumalanga working on the ground, said the initiative enjoyed sufficient support and would be launched in Gauteng, where the ANC has lost massive electoral support due to, among others, loadshedding, rampant crime, dysfunctional metros and poor service delivery.
The former Free State premier also said plans to launch the party were at an advanced stage.
Responding to Luthuli House’s nonchalant stance that he posed no threat, Magashule warned that the ANC would see “fire”.
He said groundwork in the strongholds of the ANC was underway not only in the Free State but also in Mpumalanga, Gauteng, and the North West.
Sunday World reported last week that the ANC expelled Magashule, without conducting risk analysis to assess the potential impact this might have on the party’s electoral fortunes in the next general election.
Luthuli House top brass assumed Magashule posed no threat to the organisation, and his departure would probably strengthen the governing party’s electoral prospects rather than weaken them.
Magashule was shown the door about two weeks ago following a lengthy process in which he chose not to present himself before the party’s disciplinary committee.
After he was pink slipped, EFF leader Julius Malema said they dangled the carrot in front of him to join their organisation and if he agreed, they would send him to parliament.
But his decision to sneeze at EFF’s invite to build his own political home validates previous claims that Magashule wanted to be his own boss.
Magashule’s problems began in 2021 when, after being suspended from his position as ANC administration boss, he retaliated by suspending
party president Cyril Ramaphosa without the ANC’s
approval. He was ordered to apologise to Ramaphosa by the party’s national executive committee (NEC) and when he refused to apologise, the protracted disciplinary process was triggered, which resulted in his expulsion.
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