Paul Mashatile’s election to the ANC top seven as the governing party’s deputy president rattled some of his colleagues. Especially allies of President Cyril Ramaphosa who did not prefer him as his deputy.
Mashatile’s opponents include the so-called “Chris Hani cabal,” a group of ANC heavyweights from Eastern Cape’s Chris Hani district municipality, who fielded Oscar Mabuyane as their preferred deputy president candidate at the Nasrec national elective conference in December.
Reports over the weekend that Mashatile had a case of fraud and perjury opened against him by a member of the ANC in the North West had his foes buzzing and hoping that his fate was close to being sealed.
Mashatile’s allies said they were alert to a campaign to “find something erratic” about him to frustrate his chances. They now have the last laugh after Ramaphosa on Monday handed Mashatile the keys to the deputy president’s office in the Union Buildings.
But Mashatile always enjoyed protection in Luthuli House. Last week a highly placed Luthuli House insider said: “The matter is being used by people who have lost the conference there because they blame it on Paul. They believe that it was Paul who cost them the conferences when he was the so-called Trinity”.
The trinity referred to Mashatile’s triple roles last year as the ANC treasurer-general, acting secretary-general, and acting deputy secretary-general – which gave him authority to approve elective conferences countrywide.
“Sometimes it is not Paul’s enemies behind these things but those who are fighting back because they believe their misfortunes are because of his past actions. But sometimes it is his enemies who do not want him to become deputy president of the country .”
“Those who believe they can stop Paul from ascending to Union Buildings are really trying their luck on something that is not going to happen. How do you explain excluding a deputy president of the ANC for the same position in government for somebody else when he is there as an MP already?
“So I am saying Paul is going to be the deputy president of the country in no time, it is non-negotiable,” the deep throat continued.
Political analyst Ralph Mathekga told Sunday World last week that the country had arrived at a point where “the ascension of one leader delayed the cabinet reshuffle”.
Mathekga said the president’s reluctance to replace Mabuza created an unnecessary stand-off between the two bigwigs, noting that Ramaphosa should have by now appointed a new deputy if he was serious about his job.
Mathekga said the ANC leaders saw this coming and pushed through the meeting. Now they are overwhelmed by the expectations that they need to uphold their mandate.
“The leaders should have anticipated that this was going to be the case given how things played out at the conference,” Mathekga said.
“It is quite interesting that now members of the party want to act surprised about what is expected of them. I do not understand the basis of the delay or the reluctance.
“Mashatile spoke at the NUM [National Union of Mineworkers] special congress [this week] talking about unity and the whole party keeps on talking about this unity, but it appears the ANC is even more fragile.
“How long will this stand-off take, if there is even such a stand-off? I find it strange that leaders of the party who preach about unity are now saying the cabinet reshuffle is compact. It shows there is no trust among the top seven.”
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