Ace Magashule reportedly out for revenge against Mabuza

The Mail & Guardian reports that there is increasingly bad blood between those formerly in the Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma camp prior to the ANC’s December conference and Deputy President David Mabuza.

They continue to believe that Mabuza allegedly betrayed them by switching sides to support the presidency of Cyril Ramaphosa, for whom the support of Mpumalanga branches controlled by Mabuza was critical in his victory.

Ace Magashule, however, narrowly became ANC secretary-general despite the Ramaphosa slate preferring Senzo Mchunu.

The M&G reports that Magashule is now using his power as SG, effectively the administrative engine room of the party, to heap pressure on Mabuza, who was last week accused of having fraudulently used bogus branches to be re-elected as provincial chairperson.

Magashule has reportedly asked the party’s dispute resolution committee to investigate the case.

The long-running battle between Magashule and former Mpumalanga premier Mathews Phosa also had yet another twist this week when Phosa’s ex-butler Jan Venter once again switched sides and claimed Mabuza paid him to lie in court in a civil case about a so-called intelligence report that allegedly revealed that Mabuza was an apartheid spy.

Venter now says his initial testimony that Phosa was the one who “concocted” the report was not true and that he had wilfully committed perjury in 2016.

Both Magashule and the embattled premier of North West, Supra Mahumapelo, have had their offices raided this year by the Hawks in connection with corruption investigations, while Mabuza – understood to have been the third leg in the once-powerful triumvirate once known as the Premier League in the ANC – has not been investigated.

This has fuelled perceptions in some circles that the Ramaphosa faction in the ANC, of which Mabuza is now seen to be a part despite claiming he is only pushing a unity agenda, is “purging” its opponents – and that law enforcement agencies are not only targeting alleged corruption, as the state has claimed.

The paper could not get comment from the Presidency.