Magashule allies reportedly plotting to make country ungovernable

On the eve of his deadline to apologise for a letter he wrote suspending ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa, an ANC faction aligned to Ace Magashule is reportedly lobbying support in provinces revolting against the party’s national executive committee (NEC).

Suspended ANC secretary-general Magashule’s foot soldiers and die-hard supporters in Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal, North West and Free-State have reportedly embarked on an aggressive recruitment drive in ANC branches, regions and party provincial executive committees (PECs) to bring the country to a total standstill if the NEC, the ANC’s highest decision making body between conferences resolved to expel him for a failure to heed its demands.

A senior politician in Limpopo, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, confirmed that several politicians, speaking the same political language as he, were in the province lobbying support for Magashule.

Magashule was given 48 hours on Tuesday to apologise in public for the letter he wrote suspending Ramaphosa from the ANC. On Monday the ANC NEC questioned the authenticity of the letter, claiming the SG was out of order and that his conduct had the ability to bring the name of the organisation into disrepute.

“The NEC has discussed the so-called suspension letter and agreed in principle that Magashule had no authority or mandate from any structure of the organisation to write such a letter. The NEC has also agreed that such conduct was totally unacceptable and a fragrant violation of the rules, norms and values of the ANC,” Ramaphosa said.

Despite having been ordered to tender a public apology, on Wednesday afternoon the defiant Magashule had not yet done so. Instead, his comrades were working the ground trying to garner support for his defence.

One of Magashule’s supporters said they would not shy away from making the country ungovernable if he is suspended.

“Yes, we believe Magashule is just a victim of the ongoing political squabbles in the ANC. I think the SG is worthy of our sympathy and support. If shown the door, this country will resemble the aftermath of the Boipatong Massacre,” the source said.

Another source, also a leader of the ANC in Limpopo from one of the province’s five regions said: “You know what they say – when days are dark, friends are few. The same is now happening with Magashule. But true comrades like me will always rally behind him even when days are dark.”

ANC Sekhukhune deputy regional chairperson Julia Mathebe, however, sees things differently.

“According to ANC policy, once an elective conference announces its leadership, we forget about factions, bury our hatchets and rally behind the elected collective. In this instance I rally behind Ramaphosa and the entire collective because he is my president,” Mathebe said.

“I want to further warn those who come to divide our province for their own personal and selfish interests that we are watching them like a hawk.”

Independent political analyst Elvis Masoga said Magashule was getting his just desserts, after months of taunting “this elephant” which is the ANC.

“And consequently, the giant elephant is now charging at him with ferocious power and punitive retribution. Magashule’s most fatal error of judgment was to believe that the ANC is totally afraid of him and his sycophantic brigade of loyalists,” Masoga said.

“Given his recent theatrics of public defiance and demagogic belligerence, he is likely to refuse to apologise to the ANC. Resultantly and certainly, the ANC will throw him into the freezing dungeons of political wilderness (expulsion). In the ANC, any display of open rebellion is always met with swift suspension or absolute expulsion.”

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