The provincial executive committee (PEC) of the ANC in Mpumalanga has expelled vibrant former MEC of community safety Gabisile Shongwe after she traded her black, green and gold stripes for MK Party robes.
In the letter of expulsion, ANC Mpumalanga provincial secretary, Muzi Chirwa, said on Friday last week that Shongwe had been expelled from the party following her appointment as the MK Party’s fundraising manager.
“After learning of a communiqué appointing a member and deployee of the ANC, Ms Gabisile Shongwe, as a fundraising manager of another political party whose aims are opposed to those of the African National Congress (ANC), and receiving a report from the office of the chief whip of the provincial legislature, the provincial secretary referred this matter to the provincial disciplinary committee (PDC).
“It is against this background [that we] announce the expulsion of Ms Shongwe from the ANC after the PDC found her guilty of prejudicing the integrity of the organisation by joining, -participating in, and supporting the political activities of another party,” read Chirwa’s letter.
Shongwe told Sunday World that her expulsion was absurd because she left the ANC as far back as January to join former president Jacob Zuma’s party because she was gatvol.
She said that when the ANC decided to discipline her, she had long crossed the floor.
Shongwe said that she even refused to attend the disciplinary hearing to answer the charges the governing party had formulated against her because she was no longer a member of the party.
“It was really surprising that they claimed to have expelled me from their party while they knew that I was already busy with MK Party’s campaigns and programmes,” Shongwe said.
She said that after joining the MK Party, the ANC kicked her out of her job as chairperson of the human settlement, cooperative governance and traditional affairs portfolio committee in the Mpumalanga legislature.
“I was told to resign from my position as an MPL, but I told them that I would not do that as it was the decision of the party to recall [me from] my deployment.
“They then told me that I was charged with being the fundraising manager of the MK Party, but I told them that I wouldn’t be able to attend their disciplinary hearing.
“This is where they sent me a letter saying that I was expelled from the party and that I was no longer a member of the legislature. What nonsense is that, expelling someone who has already left the party?” she asked.
Shongwe said that her stay in the ANC was rocky because she had suffered a lot at the hands of the “elderly women” within the PEC and the legislature, whom she said had made her life a living hell.
“I have gone through hell while I was an ANC leader in the province, where I would even cry when I looked at how I was treated by those elderly women within the party structures. They would not let me grow politically because they thought that I was a threat
to them.
“I was treated badly, and I even complained to the ANC parliamentary chief whip, umama Pemmy Majodina, about how these women were frustrating everything I wanted to do for the people of the province through the ANC and government programmes.
“She said that I should be strong and keep my head up, saying that I had a bright future in politics,” said Shongwe.
She said that she has found solace in the MK Party and was happy that some of the governing party members left with her.
“It is not my problem that some of the ANC members and supporters are following me to the MK Party.
“The ANC should have itself to blame that I left and that there are people who left with me. There was a clear strategy to destroy me there, and I saw the MK Party as my new home.
“I was frustrated and always crying myself to sleep about how I was treated in the ANC. I have a vision and goals to help build the MK Party in the province with the assistance of -other leaders who have positive vibes about this party.
“I couldn’t work with the people who were working against me in the ANC, and I had to put a stop to it,” she said.
