Suspended ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule and his allies, including presidential hopeful Lindiwe Sisulu, held a secret caucus meeting on the sidelines of ANC national elective conference to plot the removal of President Cyril Ramaphosa.
As delegates went about the business of conference and preparing to nominate and vote for leaders for the top six positions, Magashule, former ministers Susan Shabangu and Des Van Rooyen and expelled ANC veteran Carl Niehaus met at a house in Ormonde View, a few kilometres from the Nasrec ANC elective conference venue, south of Johannesburg.
Magashule said he was still actively involved in ANC politics since suspension meant nothing to him.
“I decided to respect the organisation by not being a delegate, but I am there in spirit. You can see the division happening within the ANC and for the first time in the ANC, there is a huge factional leadership with aims to destroy the ANC.
The former Free State premier also said the conference was what they call “do-or-die” for those who work with white monopoly and foreign agents, and this was a wakeup call for all branches of the ANC.
Magashule produced a message purportedly from a delegate inside the conference, which reads in part “there is a person who was promised money, and in that sense, I was also offered R10 000 by some people in Mpumalanga, but I refused it. Delegates are being given R10 000 to vote for a particular faction, but I refused.”
Magashule was forced to step aside after the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) charged him with corruption related to the R255-million Free State asbestos saga. He said he still has a bright future within the ANC.
“I am still a member and a leader of the ANC, leadership is not about positions, it’s about what you to do to contribute to the revolution and the society in general both in South Africa, the continent, and the world. We are still inside the party and suspension doesn’t mean you are expelled that is why I’m able to talk to delegates. I have spoken to delegates across the country, and we told them they can’t allow ANC to die, hence we say life or death, victory is certain.
Magashule said real thieves are those who make the most noise about corruption.
Former mineral resources minister Shabangu, who is also a delegate to the conference, said the outcome of the conference should not take the country back to colonialism.
“I fought for the liberation of this country, sacrificed myself as a young woman and I can’t go back to be colonised again. Maybe it [colonised again] should wait for me to die first, not in my lifetime. Whoever emerges, the outcome of this conference must not take us back to colonisation. I look at it this way because it is a critical point for the organisation,” she said.
Meanwhile, sources claim that deputy president David Mabuza was set to be nominated from the floor to contest the position of ANC presidency against Ramaphosa and Mkhize.
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