Magashule appears to come out swinging against Ramaphosa

Speaking in Bloemfontein on Friday evening, ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule raised more than a few eyebrows when he appeared to come out swinging against President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Although he didn’t name Ramaphosa specifically, he was clearly referring to the president in several of his remarks, which may be related to a general sense of unhappiness in the faction of the ANC still sympathetic to former president Jacob Zuma and who feel Ramaphosa is guilty of double standards in his public crusade against corruption.

Magashule is known to be part of this group.

On Friday, the Mail & Guardian reported that the confession by Deputy Correctional Services Minister Thabang Makwetla during an ANC national executive committee (NEC) meeting that he had received a more than R1 million cash bribe and only returned it to an unknown businessman six weeks later has angered Magashule’s supporters after Ramaphosa had apparently attacked Magashule earlier in the week.

While speaking at labour federation Cosatu’s national congress on Monday, he called those who “meet in dark corners” and plot to divide the ANC “counter-revolutionaries”.

Magashule was reportedly surprised by the apparent attack.

Addressing a Congress of SA Students gathering in Bloemfontein on Friday, Magashule appeared to lash out against it.

One comment that was particularly revealing was when he said that “there are people who are products of the white man in the ANC. I am a product of the masses of our people. I am not made by the white man. I’ll never attack a leader of the ANC in public,” said Magashule.

Many on social media were quick to note the irony of this comment, since attacking an ANC leader – in this case the top one – was exactly what he appeared to be doing with this comment, though no doubt he would have argued that Ramaphosa had started it.

It’s understood that Magashule told the ANC’s top leaders he had met with Zuma to discuss the political situation in North West.

One source the Mail & Guardian spoke to, a KwaZulu-Natal ANC leader who said he was there, was reported as saying: “We only met because of the developments [about the NEC decision to disband the provincial executive committee] in North West. If we cannot give guidance to the comrades of North West, maybe they were going to take the back seat when it comes to elections. It [the meeting] was to give them comfort,” said the leader.

Ramaphosa’s detractors have long accused the president of having collaborated with white business interests, both during his years as a labour leader with Cosatu and when he was later amassing enormous wealth as a businessman.

Magashule was defiant on Friday that he had had every right to meet with Zuma in Durban along with former North West premier Supra Mahumapelo.

He again denied that the meeting was evidence of any plot.

“There is no time to plot against the leadership of the organisation but there is also no leadership of the ANC which I am part of that is going to stop me and many others from meeting president Zuma.”

https://twitter.com/Mshengu_1/status/1043192631965175808

He continued to insist on calling Zuma “president” despite Zuma being a former president.

Magashule’s supporters in the top echelons of the ANC reportedly feel aggrieved that only some ANC members are being targeted by “selective persecution” over perceived corruption, while others, such as Ramaphosa supporter Makwetla, have evidently been given a free pass.

The M&G further report that the “pro-Magashule group” plan to point to alleged inaction from Ramaphosa against numerous top ANC politicians who benefited financially from tenders given to controversial facilities management company Bosasa as evidence of double standards in Ramaphosa’s leadership.

They are unhappy that the Hawks have been targeting Magashule for his involvement with the Guptas in the Estina dairy project and other instances, including millions paid to the Guptas’ media companies through the Free State government.

The Zuma-allied Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans’ Association wants Ramaphosa to establish a commission of inquiry into the Bosasa scandal. If he doesn’t they will accuse him of selective persecution.

Magashule suggested on Friday that some in the ANC, obviously meaning the Ramahosa camp, might be nervous about so-called “radical economic transformation” (RET).

“Cowards, who do not want to implement RET, especially when they have to stress ‘Africans in particular’, they get scared. They are scared of white people.”

This useless leaders just like talking… But he did nothing together with his favourite president Zuma for over 20 yrs@DrAceMagashule must respect us… https://t.co/78JT9eJf6d

— Nuclear is Efficient Carbon-free energy source🇿🇦 (@slargeliving) September 21, 2018

That includes the province he was leading. Can Ace help us understand how did he implement the RET if all jobs are still going to whites?

— sibonelo dlamini (@glendlamini) September 21, 2018

https://twitter.com/Mshengu_1/status/1043196992061677568

Magashule has remained adamant that he deserves his position as ANC secretary-general amid reports that other members of the NEC are attempting to find ways to oust him from power.

“I was elected by a conference. No one can take me away from the ANC. Those who know me know that I speak my mind inside the ANC structures,” Magashule reportedly said on Friday.