ANC treasurer-general Dr Gwen Ramokgopa has taken the now-ugly party presidential race the legal route in a bid to stop the spread of viral messages in which she appears to be plotting against Deputy President Paul Mashatile’s and secretary-general Fikile Mbalula’s presidential ambitions.
The messages that have blown up the internet include a purported conversation between Ramokgopa and the headline-grabbing Brown Mogotsi.
“I will do a few interviews as well; we have to save you (Ramokgopa) and comrade Senzo (Mchunu).
“The plan should proceed. We can’t have Paul and Mbalula running the ANC,” Mogotsi allegedly texted Ramokgopa after Mbalula went on a tirade last weekend, dismissing him as a non-ANC member.
Yet another of Mogotsi’s supposed messages reads: “I will bring evidence of him and Vusi Keke (former convicted taxi boss Vusi Khekhe) and also Bozwana that he borrowed money from him to the commission before he was killed… I have made peace with Supa and have apologised to him, he knows where I got the money from to dislodge him,”.
Wandile Bozwana was the businessman killed on the N1 a few years ago. He was purportedly an ANC benefactor.
Supra Mahumapelo, referred to above as Supa, is the former North West ANC premier.
Three messages that form a thread read: “I saw … trying to link you to Cat and Morgen Maumela. I spoke to him and also Bejani Chauke. This thing will die a natural death. Maumela looked after a lot of people in the ANC, this will collapse everyone in cabinet. Did SG take something from him as well?
“Nothing that I’m aware of, but we can always say he took the money, and Cat can say anything we want him to.”
To strengthen her hand in the courts, Ramokgopa pressed criminal charges, though it is unclear whether this was against the authors or disseminators of the messages.
She uses a “forensic report” commissioned by the Progressive Business Forum, a fundraising wing of her office, which Sunday World has seen, which absolves her of any wrongdoing.
Her own forensic investigation confirms that the cellphone number that appears in the WhatsApp messages is Ramokgopa’s, but concludes the messages are fake.
Ramokgopa told the forensic investigators that she only became aware of the messages on Wednesday, on the day she received “multiple calls and messages from unknown numbers”.
She said she believes that her phone might have been cloned.
The report classified the messages as part of an alleged social media offensive to malign Ramokgopa and her associates to muddy her name ahead of the ANC’s high-stakes 2027 national elective conference.
“The campaign constitutes a deliberate and orchestrated online attack using falsified and defamatory content. Victims (Ramokgopa and her associates) have taken formal legal steps, including sworn affidavits and criminal complaints, evidencing the seriousness of the matter,” reads the report seen by this newspaper.
“The nature and coordination of the misinformation warrant continued forensic tracing, a potential criminal investigation under the Cybercrimes Act, and public counter-disclosures to restore reputational integrity.”
The report said that the “fake” text messages were nothing but part of a “coordinated disinformation campaign aimed at discrediting” Ramokgopa to soil her integrity ahead of Nasrec 2027.
Ramokgopa said she suspected the misinformation was sponsored by a third force intent on sowing divisions in the ANC top brass.
“I do not think that these attacks are linked to that, I think we are dealing with a third force that is trying to fuel a toxic environment, and we will resist every attempt to define these attacks as internal contestation,” Ramokgopa told Sunday World.
“The thing was not clearing me of anything, but the investigation verified that the account holders under which these malicious claims are made are not authentic. To date, we have not yet found out who is behind this attack on myself, the PBF and the people I am associated with.
I am also perturbed that these faceless people have even used my cell number to generate false communication to try and present as if I have anything against my SG, Fikile Mbalula or any other person, whatsoever,” she continued. “The intention of the attacks is to tarnish my reputation; I will seek legal recourse on this matter.”
Mashatile’s spokesperson, Keith Khoza, said: “The DP (Mashatile) is currently focusing on his work, which is to serve our people. He will not be drawn into matters that sidetrack him.”
Mbalula sang a similar tune. “I am the secretary-general of the ANC tasked with the day-to-day running of the organisation, and that is what I am doing. Wena Mawande, you seem obsessed with making the ANC your daily journalism. I do not know what is wrong with you.”
Mchunu said he has chosen silence during this time with investigations involving his name.
