Motlanthe fires back at Mabuza for blaming him for ANC chaos

Former deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe has responded to accusations made against him by Mpumalanga premier David “DD” Mabuza over the weekend.

Mabuza accused Motlanthe of having “created disorder” in the ANC when he challenged President Jacob Zuma’s leadership in 2012 during the 53rd national conference of the ANC in Mangaung, Free State.

Speaking to the Sunday Times at his state house in Nelspruit, Mabuza said Motlanthe “broke the ANC tradition” by challenging the now sitting president, and that the ANC would not now be facing a fierce and divisive leadership battle had Motlanthe stayed on as Zuma’s deputy.

In response to the accusations, the former president said it was “very strange” that the ANC “tradition” that Mabuza was talking about did not apply during the ANC’s 2007 elective conference in Polokwane … “it only applies in Mangaung and so on”.

Speaking to 702, Motlanthe said the Mpumalanga premier was not basing his “accusations” on the provisions of the ANC’s constitution.

He said, “my understanding of his complaint is that the members expect to elect whereas his type really wants to make the arrangement”.

“I must give it to DD Mabuza that he is correct actually in the sense that … what he is really the crying out for is the right to arrange leadership. They don’t want members of the ANC to elect whomsoever. So that’s why he’s not basing his accusations on the provisions of the ANC constitution. But he’s basing it on so-called tradition and it’s very strange that that tradition didn’t apply in 2007 in Polokwane. It only applies in Mangaung and so on.

“Up to the Polokwane conference, there were no slates. Members were nominating from branches, and nominations lists would be consolidated at national level at the conference, specifically convened for that purpose.

“And if you go back to the organisational report of the Polokwane conference, this matter was raised very sharply of slates, and why it was wrong to allow that because that’s the worst way of corrupting an internal democratic process.”