ANC member not backing down in fight against Paul Mashatile

An ANC member in North West has reportedly written a formal letter to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) challenging its decision not to prosecute Deputy President Paul Mashatile.

Last year, Sello Molefe and other disgruntled members’ complaints against Mashatile initiated an investigation into the deputy president on allegations of perjury.

They accused the deputy president of misleading the North West High Court in Mahikeng when he submitted an alleged falsified affidavit to justify reappointing the then North West ANC interim provincial committee (IPC) in 2022.

According to the complaint statement, Mashatile knowingly submitted the affidavit to the high court to mislead the court into finding in favour of the ANC and prejudicing the applicants. The applicants asked the court for an order on the legitimacy of the expired IPC and to declare the ANC provincial conference and its decision null and void.

Mashatile defence

To counter the application, Mashatile allegedly submitted an affidavit in court saying the IPC was reappointed by the ANC national executive committee (NEC) during its meeting on July 26 to 29, 2022.

In his affidavit, Mashatile said the NEC had formally dissolved the old PEC in terms of Rule 12.24 of the ANC constitution, which empowers the NEC to suspend or dissolve a PEC where necessary. Subsequently, the ANC provincial conference went ahead, and a new PEC for the North West was elected.

Molefe disputed the contents of Mashatile’s affidavit at the NEC meeting and its resolution to reappoint the IPC. He said this was not true as no ANC NEC meeting was held on the date in question, and no resolution was made to reappoint the expired IPC.

Molefe claimed Mashatile had falsely and fraudulently made up the NEC resolution taken on its 26 to 29 July, 2022 meeting that never happened.

ANC guidelines ‘followed’

The ANC released a statement in defence of Mashatile, saying leaders of the ANC act on behalf of the organisation.

“Any member of the ANC who has a grievance emanating from organisational processes should utilise the ANC’s dispute resolution mechanisms that are in place,” said spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri.

“According to our records, all decisions pertaining to the erstwhile Interim Provincial Committee and the subsequent election of the Provincial Executive Committee were handled in accordance with ANC guidelines.”

The NPA expressed its decision not to prosecute Mashatile in November last year.

However, in the letter to the NPA, Sello Molefe expresses his dissatisfaction with the NPA’s decision. He labelled it as “flawed, irrational and unlawful”, reports City Press.

Additional reporting by Eric Naki